


Unexpected Evil

by MissAtropine



Series: The Diabolic Disobedience Department (Vol.1) [3]
Category: Ghost (Sweden Band)
Genre: Aemelia Vial (OC), Alternate Canon, Blood and Gore, Conniving Copia, Crafty Papa Nihil, Dark Comedy, Dark Magic, Demons, Developing Friendships, Era 4 - Freeform, Fast Food, Flirty Copia, Gen, Ghosts, Ghouls, Horror, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Investigations, Monsters, Other, Paranormal, Prequelle Era, Rock and Roll, Smoking, Supernatural Elements, Swearing, The D.D.D, Vampires, irreverent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:20:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 34,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24090445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissAtropine/pseuds/MissAtropine
Summary: Feeling life is a little slow? Find yourself falling asleep during conversations often? Trouble with your rebellious adult children? Visit us on one of our senior citizen screenings - starting April 1st. Not recommended for anyone with a pace-maker or abnormally loud snoring.- Part Three of Six, an unusual retelling of the last year of Era 4.
Series: The Diabolic Disobedience Department (Vol.1) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1682716
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	1. Rendezvous

**Author's Note:**

> This part took a while to write, due to me fighting against my own brain and also because it was a lot more to write. Thank you if you're still here and reading this series, it means so much to know you still want to read! I am starting to write the next part already, but again, it will be a longer wait due to how long it will be (probably around the same). I'd love to know what you think! 
> 
> I hope you enjoy this part :)

_April 1st_

It was nine-thirty in the morning and Copia - _the Ministry's most consistent insomniac_ \- was scurrying through the corridors, a precarious stack of books and scriptures bundled up in his arms. It towered so high that he had to slow his rushing once he realised there were more people occupying the hallways. 

Most of them bowed their heads respectfully and allowed him to shuffle by, whereas others weren't so thoughtful and barged their way through, sliding against the fabric of his cassock in an overly brash manner. As a consequence, Copia swiftly halted and clung onto the items in his arms in hopes that they wouldn't topple over. He hated the two extremes of attitude that the church members seemed to have towards him, he really wished they favoured one or the other...

He was internally cursing how far the library was from his office in that moment - it seemed that it was just another inconvenient journey that Papa Nihil had been well aware of him having to make on a regular basis. It was odd how his superior punished him after he had actually made an effort in order to gain the position of an esteemed cardinal... 

The purposeful hindrances were really starting to grate on Copia and he was suddenly thankful for the stack of books before him as they obscured his irritated scowl from the stares around him. As he cornered the last few turns towards the old building, less people seemed to occupy the hallways and he emitted a deep sigh of relief, slowing his strides a little now that he had more room to move and less people to bump into.

Soon, the darkness enveloped around his form as he entered the narrow corridors of the old complex. The presence of the shadows calmed him a little, his shoulders slumping down into neutrality as he slowed into a collected pace. He could sense exactly where he was despite the fact that his vision was completely blocked, and soon paused, skirting to the wall so that he could avoid the obstacle of the collapsed ceiling. He really wished that they would have the rubble-filled room fixed and renovated. He spent most of his time going through the old complex or visiting Miss Vial in the apothecary on a regular basis - it frustrated him how there seemed to be no pride in preserving the historical section of the Ministry. He hadn't cared so much about the place before Miss Vial's arrival, but he certainly did now that he spent a lot of his time there. 

After passing the depressing, dilapidated room, he soon made his way towards the corridor where the apothecary was situated, his footsteps hesitant as they echoed back off the walls behind him. It seemed like he was deciding whether he should enter the apothecary and say _good morning_ to her... but he figured she'd probably be busy getting on with her long list of tasks and sped up his pace, frowning in deep thought as he approached the door to Miss Vial's workplace.

Upon him passing, an unexpected sound drew his attention... the apothecary door suddenly burst open and Miss Vial flew into him, the heavy door slamming shut behind her, a torrent of apologetic curses leaving her as she had pushed him towards the opposite wall of the corridor. It wasn't clear to her who was hiding behind the ridiculous tower of books and papers and her genuine apologies probably wouldn't have emerged in the same vein had she known it was Copia.

"Ah Miss Vial, it is fine." Cardinal dismissed as he peered his eyes around the side of his book pile, the familiar sound of his voice causing her to abruptly stop her flurry of concerns and apologies. "It is _I_ that should apologise, I did not see you there. How ahm, are you getting on? Did you manage to check that your wage-slip was correct this time?"

She dropped her concerned expression and narrowed her eyes in interest as he lowered the stack of reading materials slightly, his eyes peeking over the top so he could stare back at her. He caught a glimpse of a smirk from her and he almost gasped at the unexpected sight... she must have been in a _good mood_ today, unlike him.

"I certainly did. The bonus was a surprise, you really didn't have to - "

Before he could reply the sound of quickly approaching footsteps rang out and they both looked at each other quizzically. Aemelia flicked her eyes away from him briefly and then immediately rushed over to him, both of them shuffling against the wall in order to allow a couple of cloaked individuals to pass. The hooded people paused beside them both, bowing their heads in thanks before they continued on their way, clearly headed towards Cardinal's office. 

He pivoted on the spot in order to ask Miss Vial a hushed question but it appeared that she must have had the same idea - she had turned too, causing his side to brush against the front of her body... 

The tower of books shook precariously from the quivering grip of his gloved hands and it was clear that if it shook any more, the whole lot was going to topple any minute. Aemelia shot out her hands to latch them around the middle of the stack in order to steady the threatening sway, ignoring the awkward encounter of him coming into accidental contact with her. The two of them were in a discomforting situation as the far-away footsteps of the worshippers slowly faded into silence, neither of them moving away from each other.

Despite how uncomfortable things were between them, Cardinal cleared his throat, deciding he may as well continue like nothing out of the ordinary was occurring - he was thankful for the books again as they covered the sight of his blushing cheeks, he couldn't allow Aemelia to see the sight of his embarrassment. 

"It was no bonus, Miss Vial." he resumed with an apprehensive waver, the alarm in his eyes still present as they continued to peep over the books to return her stare. "It was pay for your investigative work so far. I gave you what you were owed since the very beginning of our _D.D.D_ project, you know? When something else arises and we are called for, I assure you that _I_ will make _sure_ that you are paid more efficiently."

She stayed quiet and raised a brow, her mind still very much on his current actions towards her but she exhaled like she was annoyed and nodded in response to his words. Her expression was empty, but soon her eyes darted towards his side, which was still pressed against her and he cleared his throat, quickly taking a step back as he mentally chastised himself for not moving away sooner. 

She loosened her grip on the items in his hands now that she was sure he had control of his shaking and nodded her head again, wearing a strange expression he hadn't seen on her before.

"Everything alright there, Cardinal?" she asked, trailing her eyes up from the hem of his cassock to the glaring sight of his contradicting irises. It was clear that she had something mischievous in mind but Copia was oblivious, too taken aback by her question.

 _"Hm?_ W-What? _Ahm... yes!_ Yes, why wouldn't it be?" he stuttered out with a nervous chuckle of assurance, his cheeks glowing redder by the second.

"You seem... out of sorts, that's all. Something about your spirit seems _different_ today." she replied casually, her black eyes glinting with playfulness as she kept her expression deadly serious.

"You... you think so? My _spirit?_ What do you mean? In what way?" he questioned worriedly, his mind racing with horrific imaginings he often disregarded but considering it was _Aemelia Vial_ that had brought it up, he figured it had to be something bad... 

Miss Vial smirked again and leaned towards him, closing the gap he had recently formed between the two of them. She was suddenly so unusually close to him that he almost lost his grasp on all of the books. Luckily, she extended her arms out to grapple onto the bulk of the pile, hearing his shallow breaths of confusion. She bypassed his side and brushed herself against his front, hovering her head over one of his shoulders so that she could temptingly whisper by his ear...

"Perhaps you could allow me to show you, Cardinal. Meet me in the old chapel this afternoon. Be there at _one,_ no earlier, no later." she breathed confidently, her voice laced with oddly lustful undertones which made his insides quiver with unexpected wonder. He inhaled sharply, trying to make sense of what she was inferring and gulped, his eyes wide with realisation.

 _"The old chapel?"_ he responded in a high-pitched tone, unable to conceal the surprised excitement in his voice. "Are you suggesting that this will be a _rendezvous_ of some kind, Miss Vial?"

"Sure, why not?" she added in a simple, careless tone, glad that his eyes were averted from her or the mirth in her own would have been clear to him. Luckily, he was too awestruck, embarrassed and worryingly aroused to face her - it seemed that her feigned actions towards him had been enough to convince him that her proposition was utterly _legitimate._

He exhaled a high-pitched and fervent _"Oh!"_ of pleasant surprise and immediately widened his eyes at the sound he had made, clamping his mouth shut as redness coated his cheeks, so much so that it had spread to the skin around the black paint surrounding his eyes.

He inhaled sharply and held his breath for a few seconds before he exhaled out again, panting with relief. She backed away from him and frowned, her black eyes boring into his glaring hope-filled irises, his attention now firmly upon her. He appeared to ignore his embarrassment for the time being and swallowed, confidence flooding his demeanour now that he was certain of what she was asking of him.

"It's cool, Miss Vial." he confessed smoothly, brushing away his initial reaction like it had never occurred, an arrogant expression of achievement on his face as he licked his lips. "I will make sure that you have the _greatest_ of times, ok? I ensure that you will _never_ forget it. You ah... want me to _bring anything?"_

"Nah, you'll do." she replied with disinterest, blinking at him like she had never even propositioned him in the first place. He swallowed thickly at her response and held her stare, his mind already running away with obscene ideas about the afternoon ahead...

 _"Just me..._ okie, dokie..." he muttered mindlessly, still gazing at her in fascination until she let go of the books in his arms and he shook his head out of his vivid daydreams.

"Chapel at _one,_ you'd better be there." she reminded in a threatening tone to which he nodded his head obediently, internally celebrating that he had somehow managed to lure _Miss Vial._ He had no idea where her desire for him had come from, but he definitely wasn't going to ignore it...

* * *

As soon as Copia had parted with the alchemist's company, he had discarded his daily duties for the day. He had dumped the mass of books and scriptures in his office, only adding to the monstrosity of paperwork that resided there - unbeknownst to him, he had also ignored the two hooded clergy members that were patiently waiting for him there... 

He spent the next few hours preparing himself for the suggestive meeting with Miss Vial. He had showered extensively, threw about his clothes in a worried panic, trimmed his facial hair, slicked his hair so much that it was almost a solid mass on top of his head and had slung on a freshly pressed black suit, deciding not to be _too_ over-the-top as he didn't want to come across as a try-hard.

Copia arrived at the chapel _dead_ on one that afternoon.

He didn't wish to spoil the surprise of seeing her, so he covered his eyes with his gloves, knowing it would only heighten the feeling of sexual anticipation for him. He shuffled beneath the threshold of the open archway, which barely missed his head due to how low it was. He bit his bottom lip as an eager smile spread across his face, his shoes clacking out to fill the entire cramped space of the miniature chapel.

He blindly strode forwards until he sensed he was somewhere in the middle of the central aisle, edges of a couple of pews brushing either side of his elbows. His gloves continued to mask his vision, his breathing harsh from excitement, light bursting through the minute gaps between his leather-clad fingers. 

His ears pricked up at the sound of fabric rustling, only confirming to him that she was present. His smile grew wider and he hopped up and down on his heels, like the existence of their rendezvous was _amazing_ to him... he definitely wasn't acting like it had ever happened to him before.

The sound of fabric emerged again, but this time it sounded like it was being wafted, small thumps of footsteps present now that his ears were attuned to the acoustics of the place. He chuckled deeply, licking his lips as he began to imagine the sight of her standing before him... he couldn't imagine her in anything but her _usual_ clothing, somehow even _that_ was enough for him to get excited...  
  
_"Oh-ho-ho!"_ he chuckled out, his voice thick from his sudden sexual appetite. "You better not be taking those clothes off _just yet,_ you will get all _cold,_ Cipolletta."

"Why the _hell_ would I be taking my _clothes off?!"_

Immediately, Cardinal Copia's desire shattered into thousands of pieces, his heart still racing, but this time, due to _mortification._ He yanked his hands away from his eyes and wore an expression of embarrassed horror, his eyes abnormally large from the shock of hearing his superior's voice.

_"P-Papa?!"_

"Yes, it is me, Papa. _Why?_ Were you expecting somebody else?" the older man asked in bewilderment, standing before a mass of flickering candles, unaware that his robes were worryingly close to the bare flames. 

Cardinal gulped and shook his head furiously, his mind trying to come up with some explanation to the situation he was currently in. He couldn't help feeling a little hurt regardless, realising immediately that he likely been _set-up_ somehow... for what reason, he did not know.

"Then I am glad that you could make it, Cardinal." Papa continued on, standing before his subordinate like he was a supernatural spectacle, back-lit by a small cascade of burning candles. "I regret that my wishes of a meeting were so last minute, but I have been in denial of help... for quite some time."

 _"Help?"_ Copia replied, dramatically gesturing his arms up in confusion. It was almost impossible for him to keep calm but he did his best to seem as neutral as possible, despite the true annoyance and disappointment he felt.

"I may need you to assist me... I may have mentioned to Sister that we are visiting a cinema this afternoon on _official_ Ministry business. I kinda wanted to... throw her... _a date - "_

Cardinal sighed with exasperation, shielding over his eyes which were filled with bored disappointment.

_"Papa, not this again - "_

"She _accepted!_ So long as it is official Ministry business, she will be there. But I need _you_ to be there to prove that to her!" Nihil exclaimed, knitting his eyebrows together worriedly, clearly hoping that Cardinal wasn't going to let him down. "As long as _you_ are there I am _sure_ she will be fine with everything."

"So... what am I supposed to do? Sit in the corner while you give the smoochies? _Gak."_ Copia replied with disgusted discomfort, visibly shivering at the thought.

"You sit and watch the movie, Cardinal." Nihil responded, completely ignoring the fact that his taste in movies weren't exactly the most riveting, least of all to Copia.

"Fine, fine. Do I... _get anything in return?"_ Cardinal probed, the irritation and hurt he had previously felt seemed to have been shoved to the side, his mind squarely on what he could squeeze out of the situation to benefit himself.

"Alright, I... owe you a _Five Guys_ at some point. Hell, I'll even throw in some free incense too." Papa offered in a serious tone, sighing when he realised just how disappointing Copia's freeloading was. The old man saw it as that anyway, Copia would have argued that he was just using his initiative given the situation.

_"Deal."_

"Good. Meet us in the entrance lobby at three." Nihil explained bluntly, crossing over his hands to rest them over his tummy. "Don't worry, the twins will not be with us this time."

"Good, good." he muttered with a sigh, the mention of them causing his spine to shiver slightly and he lowered his head to the floor. He turned on his heels, visibly miffed now that even more was expected of him. He wandered towards the arched exit as his mind boggled at the strange turn of events that had happened throughout the day, and it wasn't even _late afternoon_ yet. As he neared the open archway, he stopped in his tracks, lifting his gaze towards his destination... 

A familiar face had rounded the thick border of masonry, a face consisting of pale skin, black eyes and thick plaited burgundy hair. The quick flash of Aemelia peeping around the stone-work to look at him caused his heart to sink and he gritted his teeth in frustration, balling his gloves into fists.

 _"April Fools..."_ she whispered as she flashed him a sly smirk, stepping back out of view like she had never been there at all. He was left there, staring at where she had popped out at him, mouth agape and eyes wide with sheer embarrassment.

_Cardinal had never felt so played in his life._


	2. Totally (Not) a Date

If someone were to ask Cardinal Copia what his ideal Wednesday evening was, it certainly wasn't spending three-hours at a French art-house cinema with his two superiors, who were sat in an adjacent aisle from him. From his expression of unenthusiasm, it was clear that he found the whole experience boring, his mind at least clear of the whole embarrassing April Fools' joke he had been the victim of earlier that day. But he had merely replaced it with another burden.

The rows in the theatre around him had filled up fairly swiftly, much to Copia's surprise - he was just grateful that Papa Nihil preferred the farthest row of seats from the screen as it meant they'd ended up having the whole back row of seats all to themselves. He had sat to the left-side of his own seat, extending out his slender legs so that he could splay them across the next few to the right, making sure he took advantage of the space, fairly content that his superiors were sat away from him on the next aisle.

It was fascinating to Copia how many people had attended a screening of an old movie, but he supposed classics lasted. As much as he wasn't the biggest fan of Nihil, they at least sometimes agreed on their tastes in old movies. Copia found himself really invested in _The Omen_ as twenty minutes of run time had just passed, a conniving smile upon his lips as he nodded his head in approval. Sister was ominously smiling too, revelling in the scenes upon the screen, her eyes glinting like some diabolical plan was strangely formulating in her mind...

Nihil however - who had _insisted_ upon seeing the movie- had his focus upon Cardinal. The anti-pope leaned heavily to his right, stretching his neck out to pop out halfway into the aisle, beckoning a hand towards his subordinate.

_"Psst!"_ Nihil pushed out in the most hushed tone he could muster, earning a brief glance over Cardinal's shoulder in response as a few heads turned in front of them, a series of annoyed hushes with fingers over their mouths scolding them to keep quiet. Despite Nihil's want for his attention, Copia folded his arms to support the back of his head like they were a pillow and elegantly entwined his legs together, his position far more _comfortable._

"Hey! Cardinal! _Cardinal!"_

Copia narrowed his eyes in irritation at Nihil's persistence, wondering why the old man was still trying to converse with him when he had made it _painfully_ obvious that he didn't want to be associated with them... Copia had ensured he had entered the screen quite a few minutes _after_ Papa and Sister had taken their seats, naturally finding some ridiculous excuse for his late arrival into his seat. Nihil clearly didn't see that he tarnished Copia's _"coolness"_ and he probably never would. Even so, did he really have to interrupt Copia's enjoyment of the movie too?

After Papa continued to persistently address him in a string of loud whispers, Cardinal huffed out in frustration, swivelling around over-dramatically to stamp the soles of his winkle-pickers over the carpeted floor, sitting up straight in his seat.

_"What?! What is it?!"_ Cardinal rasped out in a breath, flinging himself about in his seat so that he could twist his torso around to face Nihil.

"I think... Sister would like some _popcorn,_ would you be able to go grab some for us?" he asked as he struggled to keep his voice hushed, furrowing his brow expectantly.

"Would I _what?!"_

"She likes toffee, not salted." he whispered quickly, already sitting back in his seat like Cardinal had no choice in the matter, blinking as a small grateful smile crept onto his face. 

"Ah _shush!_ Fine, _fine._ I will get the popcorn, but this better be repaid in my next paycheck. These tubs of popcorn cost the _Earth."_ Cardinal muttered, expelling a sound of disgust when he realised that Nihil was no longer listening to him.

Copia stiffened his arms over the arm rests of the chair as he lifted himself upwards in one elaborate swing. He held an expression of blatant dismay on his features, hopping out into the aisle of stairs, briefly raising a gloved middle-finger in Nihil's direction as he passed by - thankfully it was concealed by the blanket of darkness.

His silhouette grew smaller as he travelled further away, perkily hopping down the staircase. His slight frame briefly cast an opaque shadow of him across the projected screen as he reached the last step and there were a few murmurs of annoyance, not that he seemed to notice.

After almost five or so minutes, he soon returned with the snacks he had been issued to retrieve, bounding up the stairs hurriedly, a regular sized bucket of toffee popcorn under his left arm and a generous _deluxe_ tub of mixed popcorn under the other. If his two superiors were going to be _munching_ away in everyone's ear-holes he figured that he may as well _outdo_ them by munching _far_ more loudly. He seemed to skip up the last few steps towards the final row, his eyes glinting mischievously through the pitch black as he carelessly shoved the regular helping of popcorn onto Papa's lap.

"Wha - ? _What's this?"_ Nihil asked with a confused expression.

"Your _popcorn,_ Papa."

Copia hastily slumped himself back in his seat and stretched his legs back out, spreading apart his slender legs so that he could crudely tuck the large tub of popcorn firmly between his thighs. 

A smirk crept its way across his mouth as he shoved his right glove blindly into the large pit of warm popcorn, seizing hold of a generous handful as his eyes shined at the suspenseful events taking place upon the screen.

He slowly opened his mouth and lowered the mass of popcorn into it, his teeth viciously snapping down in a series of loud crunches. The odd piece of popcorn had managed to escape his leather-clad grasp and tumbled onto his chest, sitting in the v-shape where his dapper waistcoat met his pressed and flattering black shirt.

As much as he was aware that his front was now slightly untidy, he dropped his smirk and wore a proud expression as he administered another driving thrust into the snack tub, popcorn pieces exploding out all over the floor and seating, and all over him.

He lightly growled in frustration and settled his eyes on the heap of sticky pieces all over him, a large amount sitting uncomfortably over the crotch of his trousers. He was now completely distracted from the film, the stark white light from the screen flickering across his pale face as he scrambled about, attempting to scoop up the food from his crotch.

As Copia tried to tidy the mess that had accumulated, Papa Nihil placed the small cardboard popcorn holder between himself and Sister, draping his left arm casually around the back of her seat, confident that she was unaware of his actions. She shuffled and wore a slight frown, darting her eyes away from the screen to focus on him instead.

_"Popcorn?"_ she asked with the slightest hint of disdain as Papa used his free hand to tip the small tub of popcorn her way.

"Yes, Sister. It is _toffee,_ your favourite." he replied proudly, nodding enthusiastically with a wide smile.

"The last time I had popcorn was in _'79_ and I will _never_ touch a piece ever _again!"_ she scolded in a series of severe whispers, causing him to shrink back in his seat. His blank eyes widened in horror and he immediately swivelled in his seat to turn towards Copia, hoping he was paying attention so that he could offer some guidance. But he was too busy munching on his popcorn...

Nihil pursed his lips together in an annoyed, impatient grimace and flung the tub at Cardinal, the cardboard soaring over Copia's head to land upon his chest, crispy popcorn pieces sticking to the front of his jacket yet again, small bits clinging onto his slicked back hair.

He jumped out of his skin as a consequence of something landing over him and another large wave of popcorn spilled out of his tub and piled over his thighs. He muttered curses under his breath, raising a gloved hand to tussle the hardened toffee out of his hair, thoroughly annoyed as he had just managed to clean the first mess up. His other hand scooped up the popcorn and dumped it back into the large tub, his head turning so that his eyes could glint towards Nihil speculatively. He knew his superior had thrown it at him for the tub he had given Nihil, had _vanished._

Nihil smiled as he pointed at the screen, and both he and Sister chuckled in unison, clearly entertained by the movie. Ignoring the frustrated state Copia was in due to the ever-growing mess of toffee-bits and popcorn.

Cardinal was no longer enthralled by the movie but gave up trying to tidy around himself anyway, and sighed, tossing up a piece of popcorn in the air. He opened his mouth in anticipation of catching it - but given how dark it was he was unlikely to _ever_ be successful. The piece landed short of his left cheek and bounced off of his skin to land somewhere across the floor.

He sighed with exasperation, deciding that to get through the next hour, he would have to find some form of entertainment for himself. It didn't take him long to find something and his small smirk returned.

He raised his left palm, holding it up flat as he placed a single piece of popcorn on it. He narrowed his eyes at the back of a few heads that he could see in the distance, holding up his hand in front of his gaze like he was lining up cross-hairs. When he was content that his hand was positioned properly, he raised his other hand, his knuckles flicking the back of the popcorn with ease. 

It flew across a few rows in front of him and struck someone's head in the fifth row, their head tossing back to see what had caused the thump on the back of their neck, a hand reaching up to cover the back of their head like they were expecting another popcorn-missile any minute.

Copia threw his head back, covering up his breathy laughter with his hands. His hands soon fell and he loaded up another piece of popcorn, steadying his palm to the right, eyes twinkling with mischief as he flicked it at the back of another person's head. This time it caused somebody to jump up out of their seat, the other people around them shaking their heads as they loudly scolded them to sit back down.

Cardinal stifled his impish chuckles by clearing his throat, pretending he was merely coughing, immensely amused by how much disruption he had managed to cause. Upon hearing his muffled coughing, Sister Imperator leaned across in front of Papa Nihil, her eyes shimmering with worry.

"What is the matter, Cardinal? Are you _sick?"_ Sister whispered with concern and he shook his head, patting his chest as his coughing ceased, using his other hand to point at the screen, insisting that she focused on the movie. The sooner she forgot about his presence, the better.

Now that the commotion of his coughing had stopped, he narrowed his eyes in thought, hearing the most _profound_ noise. He flicked his eyes to the rest of the audience, but it didn't appear that anyone seemed to hear or even notice its presence at all. From the absurd sounds, he at first assumed that a couple were having some _special-time_ in a row nearby, but he quickly realised that the muffled moans didn't sound pleasure-filled. In fact, they were completely _unnerving_ , and as his ears strained to hear, the underlying sound of ripping added to the moans - suddenly Copia didn't feel quite so _entertained._

He tensed with discomfort, his eyes latching onto something a few rows away - shadowed mitts engulfed around a chair at the far end of one of the rows. He wasn't sure what he had caught sight of at first, but he was certain it was some kind of _apparition._

As he let out sharp breaths of subdued fright, Nihil briefly glanced over at him, letting out an amused laugh at Copia's fearful expression. Clearly the old man had presumed that Copia's fear was due to the classic movie on-screen, but that couldn't have been further from the truth... 

Copia dared not tear his eyes away from what he was witnessing, even though he was completely aware and annoyed about Nihil who was still entertained by how uncomfortable he looked. He wished to look away and chastise his superior, but he couldn't. He was uncomfortably fascinated by what he was witnessing, so anxious that he felt heavy and unable to move in his seat...

He wanted to do something. _Anything._ But he couldn't.


	3. Cardinal's Despair

It was seven on Friday evening - and the prime time for Aemelia to sneak out and retrieve her usual take-out pizza. The canteen food was still indigestible and she was still thankful that Cardinal hadn't spoken a word to anyone about the first instance when he had caught her nipping off into the darkness to grab some fast-food. 

She was finishing up at the apothecary, tidying away recently cleaned test-tubes and vials, screwing the lids tightly back on jars of various luminous substances, snuffing out the candles that had been flickering away since she had first started work that day.

As she continued to arrange her place of work into a fairly neat fashion, her mind wandered to her colleague. She hadn't considered Copia in quite a few days as she had been loaded with work and the monotony of daily routine, but now she thought about him, she realised that they hadn't properly interacted for quite some time... since the _first of April,_ to be exact.

Partly, she wasn't surprised seeing as she had played quite a cruel April Fools' joke on him, but she had figured that Copia would somehow earn _brownie points_ with Nihil if he attended the meeting at the chapel. She had been sick of him moping around and complaining about Nihil not acknowledging his hard work, so she felt obliged to give him a playful nudge in the right direction. Her ways of helping him were certainly _unorthodox_ and slightly twisted but her heart was in the right place, it seemed.

Whenever she had tried to flag Copia down in the corridors in passing since that day, he hadn't so much as _glanced_ at her - in fact, it had appeared that he was _ignoring_ her altogether, and his off behaviour only continued to frustrate her, despite it being entirely understandable. She had expected tension between them but certainly not the silent treatment.

She slammed down the last of her equipment over the surface of the alchemy station, rolling her sleeves back down to her wrists with purpose. Her mind had decided in a split second that she was frustrated with his behaviour and she slung on her blazer, rifling through her pockets to check everything she required was in them. When everything was where she expected it to be, she nodded to herself and sighed with relief, evacuating the apothecary before she noticed any specks of matter or stray tubes she had missed.

The drive of casting the first stone between her and Copia was fuelling her feet, and she strode abruptly, her feet sounding dense despite her slight size. She yearned to be polite to him, to at least ask him why he was acting so _strange_ these days - even if it _was_ her that was the cause of his upset, it was still something that could be remedied.

It wasn't long before she was loitering outside the door to his office, a concerned frown adorning her brow when she realised his door was unusually _closed._ Apparently he wasn't fond of any old stranger wandering in anymore. At first, she wondered whether she should even bother, after all, there was a chance he wasn't even present in his office anyway... 

But she leaned forwards and lightly knocked on the door, her gentle actions making her feel slightly out of her depth. To her relief there was no response, but before she could turn on her heels to give up, her black eyes fell upon the warm glow of light spewing out from the vacant strip beneath the bottom of the door. Copia was _certainly_ present.

Without any consideration, she barged through the door confidently, deciding that the more she hesitated, the less chance she would have of helping him - there was no time like the present.

The door slammed shut behind her and she stood in his office, her eyes drawn almost immediately to Cardinal, who was sat behind his bureau in the most deflated mood she had seen for quite some time. He was slumped forwards with his arms wrapped around his head, concealing himself from the eyes of the world around him. She was unsure whether he had fallen asleep whilst he had been working due to one of his hands still grasping a bent quill, its black ink dripping all over a fresh piece of parchment.

Her footsteps quietly rustled over the floor as she politely approached him. It was obvious that she did not want to disturb his want to be alone, but she could see that something was bothering him. He definitely didn't seem his usual optimistic and over-confident self.

"Could you leave me alone?" he piped up in a defeated tone, his voice muffled from the arms covering his head.

"Not on your nelly." she snapped stubbornly, pushing aside the soiled parchment papers and pots of quills and inks. He didn't seem to be aware of her rearranging his desk and was clueless to the fact she was now perching on the edge of the bureau in front of him, peering at him with honest eyes.

His arms twitched slightly at the sound of the wooden desk creaking and he let out a sorrowful moan, still encapsulating himself within his own arms.

"I haven't seen you for _days,_ what's going on?" she questioned bluntly, her tone approachable but firm and filled with sincerity.

_"Hm?"_ he moaned out in lethargy, squeezing his eyes closed like he was wishing her existence was some horrible hallucination.

From his actions and how distant he seemed, she began to wonder whether he was drunk - or _high_ on something. The latter really wouldn't have surprised her, but she was already starting to become exasperated with his lack of self-worth. She couldn't believe that she preferred the usual cocky, over-estimating and inappropriately suggestive Copia... but compared to what she saw before her, she longed to see that man again.

"Am I talking to _Cardinal-fucking-Copia,_ or not?"

He murmured incoherently and lifted his head out of his arms, only just flicking his eyes towards her to acknowledge her presence. He looked dishevelled due to the way the black paint had thinned slightly over his crows feet, the thin line of black over his top lip smudging into non-existence. His mousy-brown hair was messy from the cage of fabric-clad arms that he had previously been burying his head in, stray hairs flicking out in all manner of different directions. She slid from her perch on the desk's edge and rounded the side to approach him closely, sensing how low he felt.

"This really is _pitiful,_ look at you." she said in a sadder tone, crouching down to his seated level so that she could try to catch his attention. He was staring downwards at the desk at that moment, eyes glaring down at the mass of papers concealing the varnished wood of the bureau beneath.

"Have you been drinking?"

"No." he said in a small voice, not a shred of the high, nervous tones detectable in his speech at all.

"Taken anything?"

"Heh, I _wish."_ he replied bitterly, looking up through his eyelashes at her. The glance he shot her was dark and empty, and made her more than uncomfortable, but she wasn't about to give up on helping him.

"Why don't you get out of here for a while?" she questioned, flicking her dark eyes towards his door invitingly. "I'm about to head out for my Friday take-out. You're welcome to come with."

His eyes seemed to soften at her offer and a sad smile graced his lips, his shoulders collapsing around him in defeat so that he could sit up and away from his desk.

"If you do not mind my presence, I would really appreciate that, Miss Vial." he agreed with a saddened reluctance to his voice, nodding his head glumly.

He caught the glimpse of a smile on her face before she patted his shoulders firmly and stood up, already sprinting across the office to loiter by the door.

He sighed at her enthusiasm and shuffled side-to-side, wiggling off his cassock so that he could pull the whole garment over his head. Once he was free of his vestment, he slowly stood from the leather armchair, the palms of his gloves stroking down the front of his black waistcoat and the middle creases of his slim suit trousers, ensuring that he was dressed somewhat neatly.

"Come on!" she exclaimed with urgency, motioning a thumb to the doorway with a blank expression on her face.

* * *

It didn't take long for Cardinal to decide that a ride-along drive with Aemelia Vial was probably exactly what he needed. 

As he sat beside her in the passenger seat, it was undeniable that something was seriously bothering him, but he kept quiet, peering out through the tinted windows to explore the deep blues and indigos of the night sky. The colours were spell-binding and he was thankful for such a natural, reassuring sight above them, the sound of her pulsing rock music only adding to how calm he found himself feeling.

But it wasn't too long before he felt incredibly tense again, and as much as the sky and the atmosphere around him was pleasant, it wasn't enough to steer him from the thoughts in his mind. He let out a subdued growl and launched forwards, snapping open the glove-box in front of him with desperation, his hands rifling through its contents in a manic frenzy.

Aemelia's body language hardly changed due to his actions, and she merely shot him a glance of warning - she had no idea what he thought he was doing, but she wouldn't find out if she tried to stop him. She decided to play down her curiosity.

"What are you doing?" she asked, emotionless, hoping that her tone was neutral enough that it wouldn't add to his stress at that moment.

_"Fuck it."_ Copia murmured lowly, flinging out one of her many packets of smokes to slide out a fresh cigarette, his impulsive manner causing her to wear a small smirk of surprise. After drawing one out and resting it between his lips, he eyed her like he was _daring_ her to question his actions again. 

"You... want to _smoke?"_ she asked with scepticism, her voice shrill due to how reckless he seemed to be acting. She had thought that him spending some time away from the Ministry would have been _positive,_ but now she wasn't so sure...

"Sure, I ah... used to a long while ago." he replied coolly, glancing over to her with a mischievous glint in his white eye like his previous stress-fueled behaviour had been a figment of her imagination. "It might just help having this one smoke, it should clear my head, you know?"

She briefly caught sight of him trailing his eyes over her and he shuffled forwards in his seat, averting his inquisitive eyes away from her.

"By all means, go ahead."

He immediately flicked his eyes back over to her, sensing there was some kind of strange tension between the two of them as he reached forward and unhooked the cigarette lighter. As much as he recalled Aemelia burning him with the lighter not so long back, he briefly smiled at the memory, wondering why things were so much different between them now.

He quietly observed as her vacuous black irises stayed focused on the road ahead of them, his eyes tracing the line of her jaw to the indifferent pout of her grey lips. He then explored the stray strands of glimmering red hair which draped over her neck, her pallid skin clear and soft in appearance.

He blindly brought the lighter towards the end of the cigarette, too busy blatantly leering at her to care about the importance of his hands' actions. 

His vision was suddenly drawn to the rise and fall of her chest, his mind racing with unfamiliar and obscene thoughts about her, all of which made him inhale sharply. He spluttered as a large wave of smoke filled his nose and throat, causing him to cough out loudly as a large surge of nicotine raced to his head.

_"Jesus!_ Are you alright?"

_"Jee - ?!"_ he choked out, keeping a tight grip on the cigarette between his gloved fingers as his choking seemed to subside. "I do not know if _Jesus_ is alright... but _I_ am certainly alright, Miss Vial. I ahm... have not smoked in so long, you know? It is something of a past-time, but after everything I just thought: _screw it,_ I could fucking murder a smoke right now."

"Say no more, I understand completely."

The cassette tape in the car suddenly crackled and a fresh song filled the sedan causing her to immediately twist the volume dial, the clear, thumping sound of _Rats_ blaring out from the door-speakers to pleasantly attack their ears.

Cardinal shifted in his seat slightly, holding the cigarette up to his lips as he puffed out intermittently, hoping to conceal any heavy sigh of discomfort that he happened to expel as a consequence of one his songs being present. It was clear that it had been some time since he had last smoked as he didn't seem comfortable gripping the cigarette between his digits or inhaling the tumbling clouds of smoke, but he persisted.

"So... ahm... " he began hoarsely, eyes focused on the sight of the headlights from oncoming vehicles on the opposite side of the road. "... you like _Ghost,_ hah? They seem like a pretty cool band, you listen to them a lot?"

Although he loathed the awkwardness that was forming between them, his confidence ruled over his actions entirely, hoping to grasp at even the slightest ego-boost.

"Yeah, they're kinda fascinating. There's so much diversity with their music. Each song kicks you in the teeth in a different way. Very fun to listen to."

Copia nodded modestly at her praise of his music, exhaling white smoke from his nostrils. A smirk crawled across his lips but he refrained from allowing it to stay present for too long.

"Yeah, I _totally_ get what you mean, very... _original._ I have - _ahem_ \- listened to them quite a bit myself - " he cut off and feigned a yawn, raising his left arm up to drape it across the back of her chair, clutching at the rough fabric with his gloved fingertips. She frowned at his strange behaviour, but ignored his actions, rationalising that he was just incredibly stressed and probably had only just been hit by a large wave of nicotine.

"You got a favourite record?" he asked with a hint of flirtation, his eyes rolling towards her, filled with undertones she really wasn't aware of. 

"Not really. It's hard to pick. They're all so different and have their own interesting concepts and values."

He sniffed, allowing a huge smirk to spread across his face this time. For the first time in a while, he suddenly felt immensely proud of himself and as if on cue, _Rats_ seemed to grow a little louder in volume.

"True, _very_ true, Miss Vial. But c'maan, this one right here... it _has_ to be the best, no?" he insisted hopefully with a dramatic gesture towards the music player. He nodded his head a few times to the beat, extending out the hand which clutched at the smoking cigarette so that he could dance a little in his seat.

She raised a brow and briefly shot a glance towards him, surprised by the sight of him swaying his movements across the gear-stick to study her intently. It was like he was readily poised to react to whatever she was about to say - she could see the cogs turning in his head from the mischievous twinkle in his eyes, his hand raising up to slide the cigarette between his lips until the edges had a good grip and hung there. She tore her attention from him, his presence suddenly overwhelming her when she realised there was a unusual intensity bubbling between them.

"The _singer_ on this record..." he continued in a passionate breath, raking his eyes over her as he resumed complimenting himself. "... is fucking _out-of-this-world,_ don't you think?"

Her discomfort ceased to exist and her usual neutral expression returned due to his words, but her eyes held a slight reluctance... or perhaps it had been the faint flicker of fear. 

"You... do realise that I know that _you're_ the singer, Cardinal?"

His eyes widened and his mouth seemed to drop open as he adorned a look of horror, ash tumbling down from the end of the lit cigarette. 

"Ah _shit... "_ he murmured, quickly clearing his throat in the hopes that she never heard him cursing himself. "Sure, sure... I ... ahm... _totally_ knew that. I was just... messing with you, Aemelia, _heh._ How... ah... how long have you known?"

"Since you found Prequelle in my cassette box." she explained simply, not giving him the attention of her mirth-filled eyes. "You aren't so good at hiding your surprise, Copia. Might want to work on that."

"Good, good... yes, yes, I will make sure I work on the... _hiding of my surprise._ Though I am certain that there will be no point of wearing masks around you, Miss Vial." 

The corners of her mouth twitched and he smiled broadly, closing his eyes as he tossed his head back. He pushed out one long breath, spewing out a twirl of smoke from his mouth.

Miss Vial was right. Spending time away from the Ministry was cheering him _up immensely._

* * *

The sedan pulled up sharply outside a pizza establishment, the backs of waiting customers pressed up against the glass of its windows due to how bustling the place was. Aemelia locked the handbrake in place and freed her seat-belt, already reaching for the door release on her left.

"Wait here - "

"No no no!" Cardinal hurriedly spluttered out, placing a glove around her forearm to ensure that she knew he was serious. "I did not travel with you to _stay in the car!_ I want _in,_ I want to see the magnificence of this pizza-maker in person, ah?"

"You're sure?"

"Absolutely." he assured with utmost confidence, dropping his hand away from her. 

_"Fine."_

Inside the take-out, it was thriving, the sound of buoyant voices dominated the atmosphere, the smell of burning coals and simmering tomatoes coating the dense, humid air. It was only a pokey little place and was certainly unfit to accommodate the amount of customers inside, given that the only actual bit of space was a small gap that had been left just in front of the serving counter.

Upon Copia and Vial arriving, the clientele appeared to be far too engrossed in raucous conversation to notice either of the two eccentric people who entered the place, who strikingly reeked of tobacco smoke - apparently Copia had ended up coughing _out_ more smoke than he had breathed _in._

Despite the fact that the two of them seemed to effortlessly mix in with the local customers, it was eventually someone behind the counter that first noticed their presence. His skin was tanned and his brown eyes gleamed with amusement as he dropped the sauce spoon he had been holding to rush over to the counter with haste. He stepped up onto his tip-toes to yell out in a jovial manner, gesturing and urging the large crowd of hungry customers to move aside slightly.

Miss Vial led the way through the cramped space and Copia tagged behind, the mass of people swaying backwards to ensure they allowed the new customers some space to move. The freshly made space caused Cardinal to narrow his eyes in suspicion and once the two of them had filled the gap at the front of the serving counter, it was only then that the chatter behind them rose in volume as fascinated, speculative eyes settled on them. 

The man who had first spotted them giddily slapped the counter and laughed aloud, pointing at Aemelia as he brushed his other bashful hand through his thick, overly-groomed black hair. 

_"La sconosciuta bella ritorna!"_ he announced gleefully, his face reddened from how warm it must have been for him at the kitchen station. _"Chi è questo amico? Tuo Nonno?"_

Copia realised very quickly that she hadn't a clue what the fellow was saying, and he stayed quiet, gritting his teeth at how overly praising the man seemed to be towards her but how overly rude the man was being towards him. Already, he couldn't wait to leave the place.

_"Solito?"_ the man resumed, with a huge grin upon his face, oblivious to the daggers that Copia was shooting him.

She shook her head and gestured two fingers to signify that she required _two_ orders. The crowd of waiting Italians behind her patted her on the back as they let out an excitable cheer, seemingly entertained by her inability to understand everything. 

To Copia, he didn't feel like either of them were very welcome there, but considering that she hadn't said a word to him and was focused on watching the coal-fuelled fire cook away towards the back of the serving area, he assumed that the atmosphere of the place was something she was used to.

As much as the customers were ridiculing her in their own language, they weren't being particularly negative towards her but he sensed something about them that he did not like. Copia didn't dislike many people, but the ones he did all had very similar qualities, and the people behind them all seemed to share the same thing he hated.

As much as he hadn't wanted to stay in the car - he was beginning to wish he _had_ \- he was glad that he had stubbornly insisted on staying by her side, at least she hadn't had to face such a boisterous crowd of customers on her own for once. 

A few people behind them began to eye Copia's outfit in quiet judgement, others that were close kept their their nervous eyes upon the shimmering Grucifix upon his suit jacket. The emblem of his church appeared to make the crowd around them silently uneasy, and he immediately noticed, but ensured that his mouth was firmly shut for Aemelia's sake.

_"Scommetto che hai un culo vivace."_ the man said with a wink as he passed over two hot cardboard boxes and she slid a few notes over the counter in return, not bothering to decipher a specific amount of payment even though Copia could probably have assisted her with such a thing. 

Even so, Copia was far too irritated to help her in any way. He locked his jaw in place and balled his hands into fists due to what the man had said but he managed to blink away his rage when she linked her arm around his, dragging him away before he did or said something he would regret. He obeyed her wishes and moved alongside her, moving his feet with more ease as his eyes pierced into the crowd around them before the bell above the door to the place signified their exit. 

"This smells fucking good." she commented as her arm fell away from his so that she could raise the couple of boxes with both hands and take a deep sniff. She acted like nothing out of the ordinary had happened, venturing towards the parked Ambassador whether he was following her or not.

From her calm manner, she clearly hadn't the faintest idea of what the man had been saying to her back there and in truth, Copia didn't want to repeat what he had understood so perfectly. So he decided to forget about it instead.

"You must be hungry to order _two_ boxes, no?" he inquired, trying to drop the uncomfortable sulk he had upon his features as he tailed behind her.

"One's for _you,_ silly." she corrected with mirth swimming in her obsidian eyes, shooting him a playful glance over her shoulder. "I'm pretty sure I got _calzones_ this time round... they feel hefty."

"Huh. They give you a surprise every time you go?" he asked in a low voice, walking directly beside her now that they were nearing the sedan.

"Yeah, saves me making a decision."

"Sure, beats canteen food." he agreed amicably in a lighter tone, gazing at her in genuine concern, fully aware that she wouldn't see the candid expression upon his face. "... just _be careful."_

She frowned at his words and came to a halt by the side of the sedan, his eyebrows raising in surprise as she hastily turned to thrust one of the boxes into his gloved hands. 

She smoothly drew out her keys and unlocked the vehicle as he rounded the opposite side, expecting to hop into his usual seat on the passenger side. To his surprise, Aemelia slid herself into the rear of the car to sit over one of the back seats, resting the humid box over her lap. She motioned for him to join her with a small wave of her hand - he certainly wasn't going to _refuse_ her offer - and he flung the door open, bundling himself onto the seat beside her.

"Won't you be angry when we get crumbs all over the seats?" Copia asked with the slightest hint of unintentional innuendo as he shuffled into place, already prising up the lid of his box regardless of her response, revealing a mighty calzone which was squeezed to the brim with mouth-watering fillings.

She opened her mouth to offer a response, but she frowned in disbelief at him as he ripped off the most singed corner of the calzone - tomato puree and stringy mozzarella oozing out from the small cone of dough - and stuffed it into his mouth like he hadn't eaten a meal in _days._

"You never mentioned that you were _this_ hungry, Cardinal. I would've said to head here sooner if I'd known."

He held up his now partially soiled gloves and waved them at her, shaking his head to display his disagreement due to his inability to converse - his cheeks were too occupied in holding the generous amount of food he had shovelled into his mouth.

Aemelia dropped her expression of concern and moved her attention away from him to settle her eyes on her own food instead, flipping up the lid of the take-out box. As much as she preferred to stab and slice into her food, she had no utensils with her so she would have to rip and tear, just like Copia was doing... but she would make sure she was less _dramatic_ in doing so.

She tore off a chunky, bite-sized piece of dough and lobbed it into her mouth, slowly chewing as she stared at the outside world through the window, the expanse of navy night-sky clear of any clouds. For some reason, she felt that things were slightly surreal in that moment. There she was, sat in the back of her black sedan going on eight at night, and she had Copia to her right, who was greedily stuffing his face with an over-sized calzone. She certainly wouldn't have thought that such a thing would have ever occurred, even if someone had told her of her future that first day she had set foot in the Ministry.

Her mind soon shifted, wandering to how strange Copia's behaviour was - even then as her thoughts held her attention, he was gobbling up his food like eating was something that he had only just recalled how to do. She had to get to the bottom of it, especially now she was truly alone with him, away from the prying eyes and hidden nooks and crannies of the Ministry.

"What's going on, Cardinal?"

The halved remains of his calzone sadly thudded back into the box as his grip slackened, his hands visibly wavering from her question.

"Why, I am _eating,_ Miss Vial. What do you think?"

She sighed and rolled her eyes, already irritated by his flippant manner. She hated how easily he could brush off a situation or an important question like it was nothing at all. She wasn't allowing him to create a diversion this time.

"Is it..." she trailed off, like she was reforming words in her mind or perhaps she was just reluctant to continue what she wanted to say to him." "... is it because of the April Fools thing? Because I understand if you - "

_"What?!_ No, no, of course not, Miss Vial! I... _ahm,_ I was quite _disappointed_ that, _ahm..._ it was a _shame_ 'cause I really do like..."

He paused as his cheeks flushed a faint magenta and he dropped his gaze to focus on the appetising food upon his lap, hoping that it would stop him from uttering something ridiculous. He cleared his throat and ensured he avoided any eye contact with her, wondering why his body temperature had risen so much.

"It was a real shame, but I am over it now." he finally finished in a bashful murmur and he wore the brief glimpse of sadness before he smeared it over with seriousness. "It is something else stuck on the brain. Something that has greatly unsettled me."

He hadn't wanted to admit that he was _perturbed_ by something and he knew Miss Vial was no therapist, but he was certain he was doing the right thing by recounting to her the past events that had been haunting his every living moment.

He swallowed thickly and tucked down the cardboard lid to cover over his food, feeling his stomach churning in nervous turmoil as his brain began to recall something.

"I am not sure what it was that I witnessed exactly, but it was _unnerving._ It was all fine before it happened, a _teensy_ bit annoying with Papa and Sister there, but I did not care. I had a whole row of seats to myself, what did I care? They were comfortable and I had plenty of leg-room."

She could only presume that he was referring to the Ministry's cinema outing which she had roped him into - already, she felt the slight sting of guilt. She continued to tear pieces from her food as he spoke and her black eyes softened as she gazed at him, internally she was urging him to go on. But from how glazed over his eyes were and how they looked straight towards the glass of the windshield, she knew whatever it was that he was about to say was difficult for him.

"I'm surprised I even _saw_ it, Miss Vial. But I did. It was nothing but a stupid fucking _shadow,_ so easy to miss in the veil of darkness, no? So easy to latch onto a victim when everyone is sat in pitch-black, so focused on a big movie screen."

He let out a shuddered breath and pinched the tip of his nose, closing his eyes tightly like he was stopping himself from shattering to pieces in her presence.

"I saw it _trap_ a stranger and I did _nothing,_ Miss Vial! Absolutely fucking _nothing!"_

"And what could you have done, Cardinal?"

_"I don't know!_ I could have _interrupted_ , I could have _warned_ them... but I _allowed_ it to happen, I just sat there and listened to the fucking thing _feed_ on that poor fuck."

"I don't think that you're upset because you did _nothing,_ Cardinal." she reasoned, in what she hoped was a reassuring, soft tone of voice. "I think you're upset because that thing wasn't even supposed to _be_ there. Nothing like that is ever supposed to dwell in a place of _enjoyment._ Where this took place only adds to how horrified you felt witnessing such a thing."

"Perhaps, Aemelia, yes. Perhaps you are right. Satan did not create such hideous monstrosities to _disobey_ Him. They have a specific purpose and an appropriate time of use, but this _fucking thing?_ It served no purpose at all. It satiated itself on this person with sheer _greed."_

"Then maybe you were witnessing it for a reason." she pitched, her mind starting to make sense of his unusual temperament. "Maybe it was because Satan knew that you would sense that something was out of place? After all, like you said, who would think to look?"

"Yes..." he mumbled quietly, inhaling deeply in realisation as he widened his eyes and raised his head to glare at her. _"Yes,_ Miss Vial! _Of course,_ I have been so _blind!_ Why did I not realise this before? _Of course,_ it is Satan leading us to problems that the D.D.D can _solve!_ He _approves_ of our work and clearly this is His way of requesting our _assistance."_

She squinted at how much he had jumped to conclusions but she held her lips into a stern line and nodded her head, finding that she didn't have the heart to propose something more rational as his eyes gleamed with a sense of joyful achievement.

"Then we'll go there tomorrow." she replied, averting her eyes from him so that she could focus back on her lap, her mind still partially on the food before her.

"I don't know about _that,_ Miss Vial. Do you not think it would be a bit _rash?_ It would be quite a drive to France..."

She almost growled in frustration and violently pushed up the cardboard lid again, her hands pulling apart bread and stringy cheese like she was taking out her annoyance on her food.

"Look." she began in a threatening tone, her voice thick with sincerity. "Its driving _you_ up the wall and in doing so, driving _me_ up the wall as well. Your pessimism is fucking _unbearable!"_

He tensed his muscles and sat up stiffly in the seat beside her, gulping in discomfort as his eyes widened into glistening saucers.

"We're _going,_ and that's final."


	4. Highly Professional Investigators

Cardinal was strewn over the back seats of the sedan, he had an arm draping down lazily as his black fedora perched over his rising and falling stomach. The thick black outlining his eye-sockets was barely out of place despite the fact his usual elegance had clearly slipped his mind the night prior. Grease stained cardboard boxes and food wrappings surrounded him, a scattering of salt and breadcrumbs tainting the white material of his opal tuxedo. His waistcoat had a few buttons open and his tailcoat had numerous creases over the fabric from how he was laid. His chestnut hair was matted and slightly askew, with a few stray locks clinging to his temples. He snored quietly even though he was completely lost to slumber, every so often murmuring something under his breath.

Aemelia was face planting the driver's window, her eyeliner smudged out from its usual neat frame. She too was heavily asleep, her burgundy hair seeping from the constraints of her plaits to lay across her nape and shoulders. From the paper cups with straws slotted through the middle, it was clear she had drank an array of drinks before passing out with exhaustion. She had an odd few fries in a cardboard box on her lap - it was a wonder how she hadn't spilled them everywhere.

Their urgency to head to their destination had worn the two of them out in the end. They had argued with each other most of the way there and picked up some fast food to eat on the way, which had seemed to ease the hostility between them. Miraculously, they had somehow arrived in one piece and had chatted until the early hours before they had both quickly nodded off. In Cardinal's case the whisky he'd smuggled with him had certainly helped him pass out effortlessly.

As dawn passed swiftly, golden rays of sunlight surrounded the black Ambassador, the occupants inside still fast asleep, unaware of the beginning streams of town life emerging around them. Apparently, there was nothing more ominous than the sight of a mysterious vehicle with black-tinted windows, as most townsfolk of the small French community had their beady eyes on the sedan, all of them avoiding approaching it due to their suspicious natures.

If any of them did dare to peer through the smoky glass of the windows, they would have realised there was nothing at all to question, let alone to be _afraid_ of. Both Cardinal and Miss Vial were still very much dead to the world, in the most harmless states they could ever be in.

The suspicious stares of the townsfolk soon transformed into accusing ones as a thin, hunched young man hurriedly scampered towards the vehicle, his hands trembling uncontrollably, a preoccupied expression on his soft features. His skin was pale and sweat was pouring off of him like fear was all that filled his thoughts. His blue eyes shimmered with the beginnings of involuntary tears, his breaths pumping out of him in desperate hope once he had reached the black sedan. 

He immediately knocked his clammy knuckles against one of the rear windows, spying the faint outline of Copia's head which was using the glass as a pillow. He huffed out in worry when the silhouette inside didn't appear to react to his action, shaking his head as his whole form shook with nervousness. He inhaled sharply and decided he would try again. He pounded his fist against the glass but with a bit more force this time, and the cardinal chuckled lightly, clearly settled into a lucid dream.

_"Mm... Scommetto che ti piace... "_ he murmured hoarsely, the sides of his mouth curling upwards as he let out a series of little moans of appreciation.

The young man outside suddenly grew impatient and he brought down his hand into an aggressive punch, slamming it against the glass with more force than he knew he was capable of. Cardinal's eyes flashed open in defence, his body sliding to the left which caused him to almost fall off of the edge of the seats - he seemed surprised he wasn't in his own bed like he had expected...

He groaned and winced, then raised a gloved hand to shield his eyes from the stark sunlight that was beaming into the tinted windows of the car, grumbling in discomfort. He reluctantly stretched an arm out before his person, humming in relief once the cracking sound of his bones rang out.

He nonchalantly surveyed his surroundings, yawning as he blinked away his tiredness. He risked a glance behind him, peering over his left shoulder and jumped out of his skin - two wide blue eyes glared back at him, the thumping noise that had shook him awake suddenly making an awful lot of sense. He flicked his head away and bumped the back of his head against the window, wrinkling his nose in disapproval.

"Ah _shit..."_ he mumbled with mindless hesitation, internally cursing the young man outside and the feel of the fluffy remnants of alcohol on his tongue.

"Please, you are the ones 'ere to solve our problem, yes?" the man asked, voice muffled from the pane of glass as his wide blue eyes continued to peer through at Copia in desperation."You are the ones who called our _cinéma_ yesterday?"

Cardinal attempted to raise himself up by leaning on his right elbow but he settled for shuffling slightly instead, immediately collapsing down to the opposite side of the seats. He was at least facing the man properly now, he supposed. Now that he could see the fellow, he could tell that they were wearing some kind of overalls and he could only assume that they were a _janitor_ of some sort.

_"Sure, sure... "_ he murmured blankly, voice still thick with sleep and disinterest. His mind wasn't yet awake enough to keep up with the young man's nervous disposition.

"Then you must come as soon as possible, Monsieur! We 'ave been plagued by these _démons_ for quite some time, please, you must hurry! I will wait for you there!" the man frantically exclaimed, bowing his head slightly before he was completely out of sight, scurrying away across the pavement with urgency.

Copia furrowed his brow and let out an exhausted moan, his eyes trailing over the filthy state of the car's interior. He let out a small belch as he studied the sight of the countless food wrappings, burger boxes and sauce sachets. His insides felt abnormally bloated as he looked upon the mess, and honestly, he was in no rush to feel hungry any time soon.

Now that his mind was suddenly rising out of its slumber, he flicked his eyes up towards the seats in the front, narrowing them in interest as he spotted that Miss Vial was fully asleep with her face against the window. A small smile crept over his mouth at the sight and he couldn't help giving in to the urge of waking her. In his mind, he reasoned that their presence at the cinema was urgent, so it was only right that he woke her.

With energy he didn't realise he had, he leaned forwards, filling the gap between the front seats with his torso. He balanced himself in place and hung his head next to the right side of her face, lightly snorting in quiet amusement at how oblivious she was to his actions.

_"Miss Vial..."_ he whispered, bringing up a gloved hand to cup it around his mouth. _"Miss Vial, wake up..."_

He rolled his eyes when there was no response and took a deep breath in, deciding that more drastic actions were called for.

"Miss Vial!" he yelled at the top of his lungs and quickly slung himself backwards so that he landed back where he had previously been seated, not wishing to receive any physical reaction from her.

She jolted awake with a short gasp. Her heart pounded, her eyes briefly opened to the size of saucers before the daylight flooded towards her and she quickly snapped them closed. 

"Fuck! _Never_ do that again!" Aemelia scolded, covering her eyes and cheeks with her palms, groaning from the rude awakening. Copia couldn't help feeling a tiny bit proud and chuckled victoriously, leaning forward to at least pat her on the shoulder apologetically.

"It had to be done I am afraid. We have been summoned, Miss Vial. We have a case to crack, and knowing us, it should not take so long. So c'mon, get your tuchus in gear." he explained, his energy levels finally reaching their normal (and for Aemelia _insufferable_ ) peak. He shuffled himself about over the back seats, his mind already on the investigation that they had ahead of them.

The rear door of the sedan swung open and a whisky bottle clinked out when his slender legs emerged from the car's interior. It was carried with his movements as he gracefully slipped out into his full stature and he wore a small smile of optimism as he closed the sedan's door. The near-empty bottle of whisky travelled over the path beside his feet and let out a depressing echo as it slowly rolled away from him.

"I will lead the way, Miss Vial!" he announced loudly, stretching his arms up as she had only just begrudgingly exited the vehicle, her movements slow and jarring due to her exhaustion. "I know this petite ville very well, it is very beautiful in the morning light, no?"

_"Mm."_ she grumbled with irritation, loudly twisting the lock into place before slinging the car keys into their rightful place in her blazer. She used her hands to shade over her eyes and wandered towards him, his hand extended out in the direction they were to go. He waited until she had followed his gesture and nodded, excitedly bounding after her like he was somehow enjoying the fact they were on another case together. For what reason, Aemelia hadn't the faintest idea.

"You got morning breath?" he whispered as he briefly cupped a palm over his lips and led the way with an energetic hop in his step, oblivious to how groggy Miss Vial appeared to be. "'Cause I got morning breath _real_ bad. I thought the whisky would _perfume_ the breath... turns out it just makes it taste like _ass."_

She ignored him but followed his movements easily, her eyelids shading half of her black irises. It was clear that she was nowhere near awake enough to deal with Copia like she usually did.

"Do you... even _remember_ last night?" Aemelia asked in an empty tone, grateful that the atmosphere of the town around them seemed really peaceful and not blaring with noises like she had anticipated.

_"Heh,_ sure I do... well _some_ of it." he admitted with over-confidence, a wide smile sprawling its way across his mouth. "I remember giving one lucky lady a _kiss,_ a proper tongue smoocher, you know which I mean?"

"I'm pretty sure it's called a French kiss, Cardinal. And yes I remember _distinctly."_ she replied through gritted teeth, her mind hurting from everything that she recalled from the night prior.

He blushed furiously at her response and swallowed as his confidence vanished. He didn't turn to face her and tried his best to keep up his cool, spry demeanour. It was clear that he had jumped to conclusions due to her words and was probably assuming that he'd actually kissed _her..._

"It's an image I'd rather block out of my mind to be honest with you." she added simply, her walking movements starting to get a bit more fluid now that her muscles were warming up. His cheeks were beyond pink now but he frowned in confusion, flicking his eyes towards her in an accusing manner.

"And if you consider a ceramic Ronald McDonald a _lady,_ I think you should book an eye-test... then again you _were_ hammered last night."

"I... did _what?!"_ he cried, pausing to glare his eyes at her. She also halted her strides and didn't acknowledge him, shading her eyes with her hands.

"You might want to check your pockets as well." she continued with a yawn, regardless of his shocked outcry. "You seemed to think Ronald was a stripper from the amount of 20s you were throwing away. Never know, there might be work for him there."

His mouth was agape in horror but she continued to ignore him, squinting her eyes towards the immaculate, enticing sight of the art-house cinema. She strode ahead and he subconsciously followed her, still visibly ashamed of himself and stayed quiet as his mind mulled everything over.

To Cardinal, the sight of the cinema was no impressive one, but to Aemelia, it was fascinating. The outside was reminiscent of theatres from the mid-fifties with a large boxed panel across the front, displaying the screening films in large red and black letters. The box-office was closed but there was a small sign with _"Nous reviendrons bientôt"_ written in neatly spiralled lettering. There were three wide, silver-clad doors, immaculately polished and glistening from the reflected sun-rays - the sight just made Aemelia want to head inside, for once, she approved of the place they were investigating and she was incredibly grateful that the surroundings were so interesting and pleasant.

As the two of them approached one of the three main entrances, it instantly swung open and they wasted no time in questioning it, heading into the lobby which was dominated in elaborate reds and golds. Miss Vial was amazed by the grand staircase that was the centrepiece of the place, the spotless red carpeting, the various mirrors and movie-posters hung across the walls. If she had known how glamorous the place was, she would have never set up Copia on April Fools' - as she would have gladly attended the cinema with Papa Nihil and Sister _herself..._

As Aemelia continued to study the entrance lobby in awe of its historical charm, Cardinal stood in front of her, bowing before the young man who had been awaiting their arrival, visibly wobbling and quite clearly not at all wishing that Copia would introduce himself. He just wanted his problem to be solved, nothing more.

"Y-You are the ones here to solve our problem?" he pushed out, running a shaky hand through his stringy brown hair. 

"Yes, yes. Do not fear, _we_ are here... _heh."_ Cardinal replied in an enthusiastic tone, overly happy to cover the fact he was truly hungover, half drunk and still _mortified_ from his apparent actions the night prior. He wanted to appear as positive as possible, as he could see how much the young man before him was quaking in his boots - he was hoping his calm demeanour would rub off.

_"Fuckin' hell."_ Aemelia murmured with dismay, rubbing her eyes as she resumed peering about the place - it was far too early for her to be awake and she was silently cursing Copia for being able to spring into life, she never knew that he was so great at hiding his tiredness.

"Listen, kid." Copia continued, regardless of Miss Vial's mumbling behind him. _"Chill out,_ ok? We are the D.D.D, and we will ensure any lil' problems you have _disappear._ Before we begin we would like to thank you for choosing to allow us here, most people never even get this far. We assure you that we offer the most _humane_ way of getting rid of these very, ahm... _specific_ problems that you have."

Aemelia scrunched up her face into a cringe and shook her head, surprised that Copia's words actually seemed to calm the young man down slightly. How his ridiculous entrance speech had been _successful,_ she did not know. She really hoped it wouldn't become a regular thing he did for every investigation...

"Forgive me, Monsieur, but I-I am sure I recognise you from somewhere." the young man suddenly blurted out, wringing his hands as his blue eyes glared into the intimidating pair of Copia's mismatched eyes."W-Were you not 'ere a few days ago, Monsieur? You visited us for our senior citizen screening of _The Omen?"_

Aemelia was completely overdone and exhausted but she completely understood what the French man had said and blatantly snorted in amusement. Cardinal inhaled sharply and was turning furiously red, swallowing back his urge to let out a squeak of embarrassment.

_"I - I_ was here, yes!" he near-yelled defensively. "I was... _assisting_ my two superiors in case either of them got... ahm... _lost,_ you know? They are getting on and they are not so sharp as they once were - "

"Look, mate, we _could_ chat with you all day." Aemelia interrupted, stepping forward so that she was stood beside Copia with a stern expression on her face. "But something needs to be done about your problem. As you observed, my colleague _was_ here a few days ago and while was here he noticed there was something fucked about one of your screens, mind if we take a look?" 

"Why of course, Madame!" the young man exclaimed, eyes shining with innocent hope as he curled up his hands into balls of gratitude. "If it means our customers stop dying, _of course!_ Do what you must!"

She glared at the young man and nodded quickly, not expecting him to mention mortality so brashly. The young man was definitely anxiety-ridden but she was unsure whether she could entirely _trust_ him... then again if the place was so accustomed to death on a regular basis, she could only assume that one who worked there would end up going somewhat _insane..._

"Heh, heh. Alrighty then. Let's get our asses in gear and fucking solve this shit." Cardinal added passionately, shooting finger-guns towards Aemelia now that he was gaining his confidence back. She shot him a dark look and he quickly lowered his hands, but only so that he could shoot a playful wink at her instead.

_"Ugh, the sooner this case is over, the better..."_ Aemelia murmured as he turned away from her to focus on the young man, ready to dive into the case head-first.

She honestly preferred it when Cardinal had no interest in the investigation at all...


	5. Never Assume

The young member of staff had easily obliged the two of them, allowing them to explore the screen Copia had visited those few days ago. Copia was instantly unsettled by its atmosphere, slowly leading Miss Vial through the central aisle, narrowing his eyes like he was trying to spot something in the darkness. 

The place was seemingly spotless, in a _pristine_ state like no customers had ever sat in any of the many rows of comfortable seating. There were no sticky floors or popcorn pieces stuck to the crevices of the folding seats, unlike the more commercial cinema franchises. It was impressively clean, but to both Cardinal and Miss Vial, it only added a strangeness to the investigation. After all, they certainly weren't their usual smartly dressed selves, and it was starkly apparent how dishevelled they were due to the immaculate surroundings around them.

He scaled the steps, heading up towards the very back row where he had been sat when he had last visited. Miss Vial followed him nonchalantly, pausing every few rows to peer either-side of her, seeing if she could catch a glimpse of anything. There was nothing out of the ordinary and she soon caught up to him, watching as he sprawled himself out like he was reconstructing what he had witnessed in his mind.

Aemelia stood by the end of the row, following his line of sight, settling on a couple of seats in front of him. His silence and sincere expression made her feel slightly uncomfortable, but she continued to stare at the spot he laid his eyes upon, narrowing her eyes in wonder when the faint outline of a floating spectre appeared, floating in a relaxed motion along the width of the row.

Cardinal sat still and watched quietly as Aemelia stiffened in realisation of the fact the ghostly creature appeared to be cutting across the other rows of seats, zooming towards her like she was summoning its presence. Her black eyes closed in hope as she reached for something that was deeply hidden in one of her blazer's inside pockets and she soon fished out the item she was looking for. Keeping her eyes closed, she extended out her arms in front of her, unscrewing the lid of the miniature jar with ease. 

Copia's eyes landed on the item she held and he couldn't deny how skeptical he was about what she was doing... but the apparition paused before her, swirling into nothing but a shimmering mass of light particles, its existence diving to fill the vacant jar she held within her palms. Upon sensing the density of the jar changing in her hands, she slammed down the lid, forcefully twisting it shut to ensure the apparition's existence was trapped firmly within.

"That was simpler than I expected." she admitted, expelling a loud sigh of relief to his surprise, and he already leapt up to his feet, nodding his head in approval.

"I had no doubt that it would be easily fixed. It is our way, no?" he said proudly as he shot her wink, taking his hat from head to smooth back his hair before he angled it back in place. She nodded in agreement without much expression on her face and tucked the small jar back inside her jacket.

"That's really all that had you worried?" she asked in an unsure tone, frowning when he shuffled by her to already make his way back down the stairs they had not long ascended.

"Yep! Just an itty bitty ghostie. It seems very foolish of me now." he exclaimed in a raised tone, cupping a glove around his mouth so that she could hear him clearly as he quickly jumped down the final few steps. His urgency to leave was strange to Miss Vial, but she assumed he must have had better things that he wanted to do and sighed, slowly descending the stairs to keep up with him.

"Just you wait until I inform Papa that the case is solved. I am sure he will be over the _moon_ with us!" he added with an excited chuckle, strutting confidently towards the screen's exit, regardless of how far behind him she was.

Everything seemed far, far too _simple..._

* * *

In the lobby, Aemelia waited patiently beside a vintage phone booth, her arms crossed over her chest as her black eyes studied its Parisian craftsmanship in wonder. Copia had insisted on using it to call his superior which had seemed odd to her, but she figured that he wanted to farm up some _brownie points_ \- calling Nihil with the news that his favourite cinema was now free of anything malevolent was certain to put Copia in his good books.

Copia leaned his back against the glass of the booth, quickly punching in numbers over the telephone's metallic number-pad. He had memorised the series of numbers _perfectly_ \- the fact he knew how to get in touch with Papa's office so easily really gave him no excuse to contact his superior so little, but he only dialled his tone if he was really forced to. And there was nothing better in Cardinal's view, than proudly announcing that the case was solved to Nihil _directly,_ he doubted that his superior would stoop as low as chastising him verbally over the phone-line.

The tone began to ring and he relaxed his stance, trapping hold of the receiver between his ear and his shoulder as he adjusted the cuffs of his leather gloves. He anticipated waiting a little while but to his surprise, it only took a few more seconds for Papa's line to connect with a slightly disgruntled _"Y'ello?!"_ to follow.

"Hello, Papa! It is me... ahm... _the cardinal._ I have good news." Copia announced cheerfully, pressing the tips of his fingers together as a confident smile of victory found its place over his face. The audible peaking rasp of Nihil's voice pricked his ears as the old man quickly replied, Nihil's brash response causing Copia's sense of accomplishment to vanish entirely. His shoulders slumped slightly and the wired phone slipped down from his face, his hands flying up to ensure it didn't fall from his person. He wore a serious expression and held the phone against his right ear properly, one of his gloves reaching across to shade his eyes in quiet disappointment. 

_"Ah..._ I see, Papa." he muttered sadly with a sigh, nodding slightly as he squeezed his eyes shut, feeling the depressing waves of un-fulfilment flooding through him. He frowned deeply as his superior complained to him about things that really weren't his concern or even important at all... but he continued to listen, regardless of how Papa seemed to dismiss the investigative work he had completed. There was a pause finally and Copia cleared his throat, the glove over his eyes falling as he gave subtle nods in understanding.

"On our way back?" he finally responded, fiddling with the phone's wire with one of his leather-clad fingers. "Of course, of course, that should be no problem at all - no, no... I didn't ask if they had any freebies, your Dark Excellency. I can inquire before we leave?" 

As the anti-pope resumed a tangent about the history of the cinema's generosity, Copia quietly sighed again, holding the phone to his chest, wishing to hear no more of Papa's pointless conversations. He turned to the left, wanting to apologise to Miss Vial for waiting so patiently due to how long and grating the phone call was... _but she was nowhere to be seen._

By chance, however, he flicked his eyes to the right and caught sight of his consultant dazedly passing by the phone booth with her eyes glazed over. The familiar opaque obsidian obstructed the whites of her eyes, causing his heart to jump in worry. 

"I, ah - _I must go now!"_ he rushed out, glaring at Miss Vial as he clumsily slammed the phone back in its holder, the flat-line of the call's termination ringing out - the call had cut off as the phone wasn't hooked up properly and only one thing would be certain once he returned to the Ministry - Nihil would _certainly_ be unhappy with him for hanging up in such a way. But Copia didn't care.

Something was pulling Miss Vial away from him, her footsteps hesitant as her chin raised in the air so that her eyes could strangely look down at the world in front of her from an inhuman perspective. Her legs mindlessly trailed ahead towards a narrow corridor on the left, neatly labelled _salle de projection_ and _l' entretien_ on a metallic plaque above the entrance way to the next area. His movements were a blur as he wrestled himself out of the phone booth to race after her, placing a hand flat over the top of his fedora to ensure it didn't fall from his head. The cushioning bristles of the carpet pocketed the sound of his weight as he sped up, briskly following the corner she had taken. 

It almost seemed like the attraction to whatever darkness she sensed was a repeat of what had occurred during the first intense incident back in London - he was internally praying to Satan in hopes that He would assure him otherwise. She hadn't gotten too far away from him so whatever she sensed couldn't have been that strong. Either way, he could tell from the way she was moving that Aemelia's inhibitions were foreign to the entity that had control of her - already, he was mentally preparing to step in to shake her back to her usual self.

She seemed to gain speed slightly once she disappeared into a room on the left of the corridor - it was so dark that he almost missed the door that she had entered and he swallowed nervously, jogging to catch up with her. He squinted through the blackness, catching a glimpse of another shimmering plaque screwed to the wall: _salle de projection._ He frowned deeply, wondering why she was so drawn to the projection room - he was certain that they really shouldn't have been there, but he didn't care, he just wanted to make sure she wasn't blindly being led into danger.

Upon entering, he paused by the door, his eyes wide with panic at the sight of her stood in the dead center of the room with her back to him, her head surveying her surroundings from left to right. He took a quiet step forward, causing her to scold his actions with an unexpected _"Sh!"_ which made him grit his teeth in concern.

Soiled and torn projector sheets crookedly stood on thin spindly legs of their own accord, the metronome of spinning film reel splitting through the otherwise unsettling silence of the space. The place was cold and intolerable, the smell of musty varnish and rusted metal apparent as Copia took another quiet step towards Aemelia. The whirr of the many projectors seemed to grow in volume, his hands reaching up to cup over his ears as his eyes quickly glanced towards the ground beneath his feet.

Eventually, he trailed them towards her black oxfords - his spine prickled up in goosebumps, his eyes staring at the floor beneath her feet with horror. Even though the loud sound of projectors continued to attack their ears, he dropped his hands away, keeping his hands close to his chest in preparation of reaching to pull his consultant out of danger.

Beneath the soles of Miss Vial's shoes was a lengthy damp patch, and to Copia, the shape of it appeared to resemble a wrapped body from the bundled, chunky shape that was moistly settled across the cement floor. If Copia could have seen Aemelia's face, he would have noticed that she too, was staring down at the disconcerting patch under her feet, cold air wafting up the ends of her trouser-legs.

"Below here." she said emptily, seemingly calm with her movements as she lowered herself down into a crouched position, her fingertips lightly grazing over the damp ground. "More."

Copia rushed a few more steps closer to her, keeping his worried eyes upon the patch on the ground. His heart pulsed quickly, a few shortened pants expelling out of him as she continued to study the strange apparition with very little concern. His nervousness began to heighten and his arms began to shake... and unbeknownst to him, so did the ground beneath their feet.

The brief touch of a confused frown briefly emerged over Aemelia's brow as she sensed the impending vibration of the floor below her and she quickly jerked back up to stand up straight. Copia's eyes widened in terror as he finally felt his arms shake in time to the eruption underfoot, his attention still fully upon the ground below Miss Vial's feet...

And that's when the cement of the floor began to break up beneath her, the damp patch no longer present as thick chunks of cement began to cascade away. Copia inwardly gasped and started forwards, reaching out a hand - but it was too late. The floor fully caved in, removing the surface she stood upon. She soared downwards, swallowed up by a thick, unforgiving darkness that laid beneath the floor of the projection room...

Copia was frozen in fear, his eyes still upon the spot where Aemelia had not long been present. The hole only seemed to grow wider as more and more cement fell away, crumbling into the unknown blackness below. 

_"A-Aemelia?!"_ he yelled with a wavering voice, grasping at the pathetic hope of her replying to him. He kept his eyes glued to the recently emerged void, hoping to see her fingers gripping onto the edge of the flooring... but he could see no such thing.

In panic, Copia decided to check the floor beneath his own feet, his mismatched irises intently searing into the ground... 


	6. The Soul Siphons

It wasn't long before the surface below was taken away from him. The cement weakly cracked and surrendered, the blur of the world cascading by him. Overwhelming shock surged through him as his whole form was engulfed by a splitting sky of obsidian shadows. He descended swiftly, his attention fully on the impending gloom around him, his mind filled with fears of what awaited him below... filled with upsetting scenarios that determined the fate of Aemelia Vial.

His descent went on for quite some time, but the echoing sound of something dense being plunged into deep water was enough to spring him a scrap of _hope._

A few seconds later, he vertically landed within a viscous lake of grisly liquid, his fedora tumbling off to dart far away from his person. His polished winkle-pickers were the first to be totally submerged in the unpleasant water, the rest of his body soon following, the white fabric of his suit soaking up the particles of gruesome liquid. He kept his eyes shut as cool droplets sank into his being, but he desperately yearned to open them to check for his consultant's whereabouts.

He persuaded himself to squint open his eyes, the unexpected sight of thick transparent crimson certainly not reassuring him in any way. Light bounced over the surface of the water and its dim white rays impaled through the murky red liquid - if anything, the light was the only thing he could be thankful for in his situation. 

He propelled himself forwards despite feeling so weighed down in his layers of attire, forcibly swimming at a horizontal angle through the pool of thick red water. His suit clung to his form tightly and the tails of his coat floated through the water behind him, his chestnut hair gliding out to the rear and sides of his head in rippling wisps. His white eye seemed to take on an ethereal glow, acting as a vivid search-light in amongst the waves of deep scarlet, his arms violently chopping through the water as his heart raced at the lack of Miss Vial's presence. And due to his lack of awareness towards his new, troubling surroundings.

A few bubbles escaped his mouth as he spotted a dark shape slowly sinking in the distance and he scrambled through the water, darting towards it as fast as he could possibly go. Adrenaline was fuelling his actions and surged through him further once he realised it was the silhouette of _another person,_ the outline of their form basking in a shimmering black glow. He shook his head, refusing to allow the person to sink, and frantically cut his arms through the water as forcefully as possible, hoping he would reach Aemelia's sinking body in time. 

Eventually, he reached her with ease, his eyes stinging from how much the murky sea of vermilion was invading his eyes. With his eyes now shut, his hands clutched around her middle and with great effort, he lugged her upwards, his legs cramping slightly since he was powering every one of his actions through them. He hugged her to his chest, not even wishing to squint a look at her or he knew that the sight of her unconscious would probably panic him even more. He lifted his head upwards, cracking his eyes open to peer towards the source of light, marking the surface of the water. He closed them again and pushed his legs harder, arms securely locking in place around her middle.

Out of nowhere, Copia was suddenly effortlessly powering them vertically through the water, fully able to generate a large amount of force. The black particles encapsulating Aemelia had enveloped around his form too, giving him the limitless energy that he was in need of. He let out a muffled grumble of amazement, squeezing his eyes shut even though he sensed that the heat of the light above was falling over his back and shoulders. Aemelia was still tightly in the grasp of his arms and his mind finally began to worry about her now that he had almost reached the surface...

He clung onto her rigidly as he surfaced first, blinking open his eyes frantically as he eagerly inhaled and exhaled, too glad of the fresh oxygen to notice the strangeness of his surroundings. He yanked her out of the water, keeping her upwards to ensure that everything over her shoulders was above the water. His eyes blinked away pesky droplets of water, each blood-shot iris lingering over her as he tread the liquid. Her plaits were sodden and loose red hair matted across her face, subtle stains of black eyeliner running down her cheeks to join the faint reveal of the pink skin of her lips, grey paint smudged away into non-existence. To his surprise he could hear her quietly panting and he knitted his eyebrows, unaware of her entity's dark mass swamping around their two forms, too focused on surviving at that moment in time.

Now reassured that she was at least _breathing,_ Cardinal desperately flicked his head in all directions, slackening his grip on her to allow her to rest her head onto his collarbone. What he could make out around them definitely _wasn't_ reassuring. His mind was trying make sense of it all, and why such a thing would be under a random _cinema_ in a random _French town..._ but he couldn't dwell on it. He had to deal with the present situation, despite the unsettling surroundings he could see.

To the west, was a vast expanse of more crimson lake-water, the light reflecting attractively to shimmer across the surface. 

To the north, was a distant towering pile consisting of beaten up furniture from eras passed, broken musical instruments, mounds of old, burnt-out film reel and dusty antiques - it was seemingly a _treasure trove_ for any historical enthusiast. Copia's curiosity was certainly peaked but he couldn't ensure that such a place would be _safe_ for them... after that strange apparition they had briefly encountered earlier, who _knew_ what could have been lying in wait down there...

To the east was more promising. It was a thin stretch of wooden boards which was reminiscent of a salvaged theatre-stage, with a few battered arm chairs and a end-table supporting an old seventies telephone - _which had its power wire cleanly sawed off._ It seemed just as unnerving as the other options, but he already found himself slowly gliding through the water towards it, his decision only seeming more and more appropriate when he heard an incoherent moan escape Aemelia's mouth.

It didn't take him long to reach the edge of the wooden platform and he launched her upwards, perching her heavily sodden form onto the flat wooden boards. Once he was sure that she was safely balanced there, he took in a deep breath and pushed his gloved hands onto the ledge of the wood, his arms straining as he managed to loudly scramble up and out of the lake containing bloodied water. He coughed and spluttered as he slowly stood to his feet, feeling overly heavy from the wetness of his attire - which was now _ruined_ and he couldn't deny that in the back of his mind, he was somewhat disappointed that one of his favourite suits was now utterly _un-salvageable._

He shook his head side-to-side, droplets spewing off of him like he was a wild animal, water continuing to drip from him as he proceeded to rush towards Aemelia, who was still completely unconscious as she laid on her right side. He crouched beside her and reached a glove down to shake her arm, still panting out as he gained his breath back. He seemed to be unaware that the dark mass of particles still clung to him, too concerned with her being out cold to notice.

"Miss Vial?" he asked hopefully in a hushed tone, shaking her more impatiently. _"Miss Vial, can you wake up?"_

He briefly darted his eyes away from her to check their surroundings, still cautious that something else resided there. He was sure that there must have been something but reverted his attention to lay his eyes on her. 

_"Miss Vial?"_ he continued to whisper, swallowing with nervousness. His eyes narrowed in interest as he attempted to wake her, the tattoo over her neck that had always been obscured by her plait now plainly visible to him. As he continued to try and bring her into reality with various calls of her name, he studied the tattoo intently, wondering what significance it had to her. It resembled _"three"_ in Roman numerals which was intricately decorated in black ink, but it was fairly faded and must have been something she had adorned for quite some time. 

As he pondered over its relevance, she emitted an unholy wheeze, like everything she had experienced had just hit her and she flinched back into reality, her black eyes growing wide as she blinked them into use. She rolled them upwards and jumped out of her skin when she realised that Copia's dripping form was leaning over her. 

_"Sorry, sorry!"_ he whispered fiercely, waving his black gloves at her apologetically. "I just wanted to make sure you were alive and well!"

She let out an exasperated moan of displeasure and rubbed the sides of her temples, uncomfortable with how flat the planks of wood felt over the ridges of her spine.

"Where the fuck are we?" she questioned in a blunt manner, wincing her eyes shut as the black particles around the two of them seeped back into her form like they had never been there in the first place.

"I am not so sure." Cardinal whispered, hovering beside her with an expression of uncomfortable unfamiliarity. "But try keep your voice down, I do not believe that we are _alone_ here, Miss Vial."

She murmured in annoyance and squinted her eyes up at him, frowning at the sight of his ruined tuxedo, thickly stained in patches and streaks of scarlet liquid. 

"Is that _blood?"_ she asked sharply, propping herself up slightly now that her mind seemed to be making sense of the world around her.

"I hope not." he responded quietly, glancing down at his dishevelled, damp clothes sadly. "But I think so, yes."

With a grunt of effort, Aemelia managed to prise herself up to a sitting position, her eyes scanning the length of his sodden form. She briefly paused and then inhaled sharply, hopping up to her feet, squeezing the ends of her plaits to expel some of the excess water.

"Didn't you have a _hat,_ before?"

"I... lost it somewhere in there." he admitted sadly with a sigh, gesturing a black glove towards the blood-filled lake. "It is _definitely_ worth diving back in there to find it, but... I have already disrespected this suit, and I do not wish to get wet _again,_ you know? This may seem silly, but I do not approve of blood baths - they make me feel all... _icky_ \- so I avoid them where possible. Even if it means... losing a _damn_ good hat."

His mourning over his hat didn't appear to interest her all that much, for she already had begun to follow a thin piece of driftwood. Several pieces had been laid out over the lake's shoreline to their right, serving as a pathway towards the large, dominant clump of antiques and dilapidated furniture. 

Copia raised his right hand and pushed back his wet hair, glancing at her over his shoulder, quietly murmuring his irritation at how quickly she got over things and how quickly she settled back into investigating. Despite how uncomfortable and confused with everything he was, he followed her regardless, not wishing to spend any time in the strange place on his own.

Neither of them uttered a word as their shoes slapped over the small layer of water lapping at the thin wooden path. The place seemed _otherworldly_ and so _out of place_ being where it was - Copia couldn't tell if it was some kind of _cave_ or a rift to some kind of _pocket dimension._ He didn't know if the latter could even exist.

Soon, they circled the wide tower of hoarded goods, Aemelia leading them into a small concealed barricade in the middle. A lengthy dining table shaded them from view, shielding them from anything that may have been watching them. Copia relaxed his shoulders a little, glad that they had found some kind of hiding place. Aemelia crouched and he mirrored her, peering through the small gap between various dusty objects in front of them, watching the still scene of the lake of blood.

"We need to find a way out of here." she whispered, shuffling beside him so that they were shoulder to shoulder, a single strip of light falling across the snippets of their eyes. "Somehow don't think there'll be a ladder back up there."

"Maybe there is a _door_ or something?"

"A door? _Really?_ It's a fucking cave, Cardinal."

"It _is?_ Where are the _stalactites_ and... you know, the other ones that kinda look like big _winkies?"_

"I don't fucking know. I'm an _alchemist,_ not a fucking cave-expert, Cardinal."

"I think you mean my _occult consultant,_ Miss Vial."

She smirked slightly and flicked her dark eyes to settle on him, which he immediately caught notice of, returning her mirth-filled gaze with his own shining eyes - internally he was so grateful that he had been able to assist her earlier, he didn't know what predicament he would have been in if he hadn't been able to lift her to the surface...

Just as she opened her mouth to reply to him, a shadow sliced the line of light shining across their eyes, their attentions settling on the source of the new shadows. Black and mismatched eyes gleamed with horror as at least half a dozen shadowed figures cocooned themselves around fresh bodies, softly gliding downwards through the cavernous expanse above their heads. It appeared that the things had come from exactly where the two of them had fallen, like it was some kind of _transportation system_ or _door_ for the ghostly carriers. 

The victims were stiff, suffocated and incoherent due to the creeping blackness clutching at them, squelching a hold to trap the freshly plucked victim in place. Aemelia proceeded to count beneath her breath, eyes fixated on the apparitions as they all paused, waiting for the others to follow suit. Once they were all at the same level of height in the air, the hold on the victims was loosened in unison like the metallic claw in a twisted grabber machine.

"What time is it?" Miss Vial whispered, neither of them looking at one another as the sight of the six or so bodies splashing into the lake of blood was far too dire to ignore. Cardinal reluctantly lifted his soaked sleeve, bringing up his right forearm so that he could peer at his thin wrist-watch, immediately dropping it to resume watching the lake outside.

"Ten-thirty." he breathed with a confused frown, grimacing slightly when he saw that the bodies began to bob over the water, each one tucked into the same position, tightly bound like a succulent gift. 

_"Of course..._ the cinema will have _opened."_ he added in a murmur of realisation, following Aemelia's train of thought entirely. 

"Well, they certainly don't waste their time, do they? _Greedy bastards."_ she quipped quietly, her black eyes hardening with annoyance.

The two of them had both seemingly come to the same silent assumption. The victims must have all been snatched from different cinema screens, to their knowledge the cinema had _six_ screens - there were roughly _six or so_ victims from what the two of them could see. What could the shadowed creatures have wanted with these people? Why had they just dropped them into the water like they were some kind of _delivery?_

Copia was the first to notice that the water around the people began to bubble and soon, the whole sea of blood began to shake. He pointed to the scene with his left glove and quickly patted Aemelia's shoulder, keeping a firm grip on her to ensure she was still close to him. Now that they both were witnesses, the vermilion sea spat out tens of human-sized creatures - they were built like scorpions, their skin and shells meshing into an interlocking blue-grey mass. Their eyes were hollow and black, reminiscent of dead shrimp, focused upon their food. Instead of pincers, the creatures had spindly arms with gnarled hands at the ends which were curled and crooked, perhaps to grapple onto things underwater or perhaps even to tear and scoop things up... 

As more of the ugly beings continued to emerge, they all shrieked in choked excitement, tipping their heads back to drop their jaws open, revealing throats filled with rows of sharp incisors.

Copia scoffed back the urge to vomit as the creatures began feasting upon each one of the bodies that had been delivered to them, the visible sight of each person's life shimmering out in opal particles as they sucked it up through the air like it was a delightful soup. Some others had begun to tuck into the physical flesh of the victims, peeling away strips here and there, scooping up anything meaty to chuck it down the back of their throats...

_"Fuck me."_ Aemelia exclaimed in a quick whisper, reaching a hand up to rest it upon the one Copia had placed on her shoulder. _"Soul Siphons?_ That explains a _lot..._ no wonder you've been acting so bloody _strange."_

He frowned at her words, but didn't dare take his eyes from the hideous scene before them, afraid that he would miss something important.

"There are... _many_ of them." he said emptily, suddenly feeling very out of his depth - what use were the two of _them_ if there was going-on a _hundred_ of those things?

"Lucky for you, I know exactly how to handle these buggers." Aemelia responded confidently, noticing the discomfort in his body language as she stared at him. She reached into the inside of her blazer, narrowing her eyes in thought.

_"You do?!"_ Cardinal exclaimed, dropping his hand away from her to utter a loud sigh of relief as he combed a hand through his sodden hair."Oh-hoh! Thank _Satan!_ If you did not we would be - "

_"Unfortunately..."_ she interrupted, pulling out her sodden box of matches from her blazer to wave them before his eyes. "We need _fire_ and these are currently out of action."

"You got a lighter?" he quickly asked, his mind already filling with fairly decent alternatives to matchsticks.

"A _what?"_ she cried out in an offended tone, thrusting the match-box back inside its rightful pocket.

"A _lighter,_ you know, _a zippo?"_

"Fuck no, why do you think I would carry one of those around?" she snapped and narrowed her eyes at him, folding her arms across her chest.

"Because you _smoke!"_ he reasoned, gesturing his gloves towards her in exaggerated exasperation.

_"Oi!_ I'm not _that_ basic, thank you very much." 

Cardinal frowned at her stubborn demeanour and turned away from her, shaking his head. He took a step back, hunching down to avoid hitting his head on the bottom of the dining table above them. He hummed in thought, trailing his eyes to the sides to inspect the pile of items around them.

"We could always use all of this crap for fuel, no?" he proposed, sliding a gloved palm over the dining table's leg before he knocked on it for luck.

"That would be perfect actually." Aemelia considered, surprised that she was actually agreeing with one of Cardinal's suggestions for once. "Siphons are ever so _sentimental_ so us burning their shit would certainly piss them off. They hoard this stuff for a reason."

_"Piss them off?_ Do we really wanna... do that, Miss Vial?"

"Sure, why not?" she replied in an accepting tone, shrugging as her eyes explored the pile of various appropriate objects around them. "I'd rather that they all died _passionately enraged._ Wouldn't be any fun in giving them a deflated, depressing kind of death. These things thrive on the misery of others."

_"Heh,_ it is settled then." Copia breathed out with a smile of proud victory, placing a black glove over his chest.

"Only thing left to do is find a reliable source of ignition."

As she took a step away from his side to hunt for something they could possibly use, he quickly reached out, his left glove firmly resting over her shoulder to ensure that she didn't stray away from him. His contact made her whip her head around to stare at him in confusion and his eyes were filled with a strange sense of honesty. Once he was certain that he had her attention, his firm hand left her shoulder in order to slide off his other glove, revealing the bare skin of his hand to her. She scowled in bewilderment, but stayed silent, sensing that he was about to share some kind of secret with her from the hushed way that he was acting. 

"A cigarette, if you have one?" he whispered, backing away from the pile of hoarded items so that he had a little more room around him. She shuffled to stand before him and slid out her packet of smokes - seemingly the _only_ thing that had actually stayed dry - drawing out a single cigarette as he had requested. She clutched it for a few seconds but soon shook her head, extending it out for him to take it.

Instead of grabbing onto it, he reached his bare hand over to it and flipped it over, motioning a beckoning gesture to the very end of the cigarette... and it immediately set the thing alight with vivid cyan flames which were outlined with a hazy black hue. Aemelia stared in quiet shock, amazed that the thing still burned so _normally_ and hadn't been burnt into an immediate pile of ash. He dropped his arm down by his side to lean forwards and part his lips, his eyes motioning for her to give him the cigarette. She slowly obliged his wishes with wide eyes and slipped the smouldering cigarette between his lips. He puffed it confidently and bent down slightly to retrieve his glove which had fallen to the floor, his attention straying from her look of wonder for a second.

"That was fucking _something,_ Cardinal!" she whispered with frantic enthusiasm, watching him tuck his discarded glove into his waistcoat. "No _wonder_ you wear those gloves all the time..."

He smirked and nodded, keeping his eyes on the ground beneath his feet like he was suddenly feeling quite bashful about everything. He had never showed _anyone_ any of his unusual abilities before - he was a little embarrassed as he knew he could use his abilities far more adequately when he was alone. He felt that it was a little different now that he had an audience.

"It is not so bad, I can turn it on and off whenever I like." he answered simply, keeping his eyes on the ground so that he could avoid her fascinated eyes. "The gloves are... so I do not get so cold. But they do remind me not to be so tempted to set things alight."

"Makes sense." she agreed, dropping her attention towards him as she realised he seemed slightly uncomfortable for some reason. She hadn't asked him to disclose any kind of abilities that he had, but she sensed that he was maybe regretting informing her of his unusual talent for some reason. 

"The trouble is, I can only use certain fuels to be able to do it, you know?" Copia explained in a more optimistic tone, his voice trembling a little from how unfamiliar he was with talking about his own abilities. "And... the energy you emit, it is _perfect,_ it seems. I never really considered it until now."

"You're welcome, then." she replied simply, nodding her head at him with eyes that gleamed with amazement.

Copia continued to smoke aptly as she drew out another cigarette from the pack, perching it between her lips. He extended out his bare hand again and she leaned forwards, licks of blue hell-fire setting the end alight in a single flash. They nodded at one another as she returned the smokes to her inside pocket, taking one long drag before she turned away from him to gander at the enormous pile of useless items.

"We could get rid of these suckers pretty fast." she murmured, already snatching hold of the nearest item to her - an ugly bust, supposedly of some kind of _American president_ that was carved out of a large chunk of wood.

Copia exhaled out a large cloud of smoke and narrowed his eyes at her in challenge, "Just tell me what we have to do..."

After a straight-forward explanation from Aemelia, Copia nodded and the two of them set to trailing around the pile of knick-knacks, snatching up any combustible items to add them to a new heap for Copia to ignite. Their fuming cigarettes hung limply in their mouths, ash dropping down across the thin puddles under their feet as they carried the items in bundles in their arms, placing them down as quietly as they could, trying to ignore the loudly snacking siphons as much as possible.

The two of them were desperate to intervene, for the squelching sounds of the creatures feeding was eerily loud and unnerving, the sounds of small splashes of water urging them both to hurry their actions - the last thing that they wanted was to be spotted now.

Aemelia stood beside the new pile of fuel they had made, Copia peeking around the tower of clutter to assess the location of the siphons. He removed his left glove, the leather creaking as he squeezed it firmly to slide it into his waistcoat.

Both of them stayed silent and readied their stances as they glanced at one another, nodding their heads to signify that they were prepared. From that moment, it was like a whistle had been blown for Aemelia darted forwards lugging the nearest object from the pile into her grasp, the dark energy simmering around her form as her eyes were black hollows in their sockets. The energy coated around the wood panel she was holding and she swung herself around swiftly to fling it away from her, causing it to soar through the air.

Copia caught the panel with ease, the energy she provided fuelling the blue sparks that ignited the sides he was holding with his palms. He side-stepped around the large tower of clutter, his eyes narrowing in challenge. He expelled a low grunt of effort, throwing the panel - dangerously searing with his hell-fire - like it was nothing but a _frisbee,_ sending it hurtling towards the mass of feeding Soul Siphons.

Copia decided not to check whether he was successful and instead quickly swivelled to face his consultant. She had already tossed another object his way and he jumped towards it, catching it like a baseball, before he turned back around and flung it with ease, high-pitched shrieks of pain squeaking out as a consequence.

Aemelia kept feeding him more and more items doused with her darkness - she lost count of how many things she ended up throwing him. She threw chairs, small table units, sheets of wallpaper, parts of shelves, rolling pins, old alarm clocks that had stopped dead on six, broomsticks, wooden utensils, stacks of papers, snapped acoustic guitars, moth-bitten curtains, worn teddy-bears... _the list of flammable goods went on._

As Copia ignited more, his throws towards the small army of siphons grew more aggressive and purposeful, like he was lobbing a _fireball_ at them... in a lot of ways he certainly was.

When ten minutes sunk in, their pile of items had diminished and to their surprise, the vivid blue flames of hell-fire flickered brightly as they spread from siphon to siphon, most of them collapsing over the water to curl up as they ceased to exist.

Copia dusted his hands together, faint cyan sparking from them as he watched the last few of the many siphons scramble across the water - the creatures were incredibly confused why the liquid wasn't _extinguishing_ the flames and they fought through the lake, hoping to find solace on land...

But none of them ever reached such a place, shrivelling up before they ever got there, their lifeless charred corpses floating peacefully across the surface of the lake water.

When the screaming of the siphons disappeared, Copia shoved his hands back inside his gloves like they were leather holsters, sending a sincere look towards Aemelia. His dark expression of sincerity was enough for her to realise that the siphons were no more and she jogged passed him, rounding the tower of antiques to head back to the theatre-like platform, black eyes scouring the bloodied water to ensure the dead creatures were indeed _dead._

As a few siphon-corpses floated across towards the edge of the wooden planks where she was now stood, the lurking blackness above seemed to lift, becoming a little more translucent. Copia raised his head to explore the high cave-like ceiling, still unsure of their surroundings as he blindly wandered to stand by his consultant's side.

When he reached her, she had tugged one of the corpses ashore, one hand holding it down as the other scooped a sample up from the flaking skin of the creature. He ignored her actions, even when she bunged the end of the tube with a cork, too engrossed in the mass of dead creatures bobbing across the lake water. 

Copia's eyes soon picked out the last few remnants of flesh from the victims, and his expression saddened. Somehow he felt like they had failed massively despite the fact they had _annihilated_ the creatures - but then again, those people's fates had probably been determined before they even set foot into the cinema. Even if Copia and Vial had acted sooner, there would still have been nothing they could have done to save those unfortunate human beings. 

Aemelia slowly stood from her crouched position, her eyes taking on the same sadness that Copia's had as she gazed at him. She didn't think he was so bothered about the victims, but it seemed like he really was. His brows knitted and he inhaled a shuddered breath, the leather of his gloves creaking as his hands clenched into fists.

"There's nothing more we could've done, Cardinal." she spoke softly, and he nodded reluctantly, setting his jaw in disappointment. Her eyes flicked away from him to settle upon the depressing remains he gazed at.

"Suppose that we'd better inform the cinema that their problem has gone." Aemelia announced in a serious tone, sadness gleaming in her eyes as she tore them away from the disheartening sight.

"A good idea." Copia replied quietly with a nod, shooting a glance towards her over his shoulder. "Let's see if we can find a way out of here."

Miss Vial crouched back down to his surprise and she began to wrestle with the dead siphon's outer shell. The tearing sounds as she prised it from the creature made him audibly shiver as he glared at her - he was afraid of asking what she was doing, for the time being he preferred not knowing.

As she expertly rifled through the remains of the siphon - revealing more miniature test tubes she had brought with her to extract samples as she did so - Cardinal stayed a few strafes away from her, bending down to pick up two thin pieces of shale that had gotten lodged into the wood of the platform. He peered out at the mass of dead bodies again, his mind firmly on the amount of death they had brought to the place... and on how much he missed that _damn fedora._

He held the two eroded stones to his chest, bowing his head as he stood to his feet like he was thinking of a silent prayer.

"You were good to me, fedora." he murmured, knitting his eyebrows together like he was pained that he had to say goodbye - it seemed to be his unusual way of coping with the fact that there had been people they couldn't save. "May this be a celebration of your memory!"

He took in a deep breath and placed one of the stones in his left hand, squeezing the other one in his right like he was making some kind of wish. Then he threw it out over the lake, his eyes following it as it depressingly plopped into the lake of blood, not having the desired effect at all.

"Shit..." he murmured, swinging up a fist in exaggerated frustration. Luckily, he had a second one, and he flipped the last stone into his right palm, repeating his actions.

It skimmed over the water perfectly, hopping across the surface between the floating corpses with ease. He placed a hand over his heart and wore a warm smile, briefly closing his eyes in respect of the fallen beings... but mostly, _his hat._

He sighed and his body language instantly changed, his eulogy bluntly coming to an end.

"Ah well." he announced loudly, throwing out his arms by his sides in a shrug. "I'll just get my tailor to fashion me another. Was kinda shitty and past its best anyways."

Aemelia rolled her eyes at him as she snapped off more pieces of the siphon with her bare hands, her concentration still fully on her actions. Copia turned towards her, furrowing his brow in bewilderment.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm looking for a way out." she explained curtly, not even bothering to turn her head to face him.

"I do not think our way out of here would be inside a _rotting corpse,_ Miss Vial!" he exclaimed with a nervous chuckle, scratching the back of his head.

"Yes, it would. Just bear with me, Cardinal." she responded firmly, her voice straining as he was clearly grating on her nerves. "I know it's tremendously difficult for you to be so patient and understand and be fucking _quiet._ Please, just give me a few - "

She cut off and she gasped aloud, her annoyance plastered over with shining eyes and a wide smile as her hand laid upon whatever she had been searching for. She beamed with victory, the sound of cracking erupting out as she yanked out the strange object from the torso of the body. She held the strange organ in front of her eyes, both palms cupping around the heart-shaped object like it was a rare, whimsical treasure. The sight of her fascination was contagious and he found an amazed smile emerging on his own mouth as he watched her, oblivious to anything she appeared to be excited about.

"These things are like _fairy-dust."_ she exclaimed in a hushed tone, black eyes gleaming as the heart made up of glass-like tissue glowed with unreal light. "They have all these insanely human hopes trapped inside their hearts. What you see here, is _hope_ in its truest form."

Cardinal approached her side, captured by the sight of visual hope dancing about inside the thick glass of the siphon's heart. He was unsure how such an organ from a creature could assist them, but he implored her to go on.

"Seems a real fucking shame that we have to use it to get out of here. I could have used one of these without this bloody _predicament."_ she admitted brashly, the brief glimpse of her fascinated joy disappearing as she hopped up to her feet, clutching the heart to her chest. "We're granted one wish. It's _guaranteed_ to come true."

He opened his mouth to say something, raising a finger up in the air... but before he could, she sighed heavily and clawed her fingers around the siphon heart, the glittering ribbons of hope inside dancing about in excitement. 

_"Touch me."_ she instructed firmly, causing Copia to widen his eyes eagerly as he quickly advanced towards her, standing closely to her right side. He awkwardly reached his hands towards her waist, clearly misunderstanding her order and she scowled.

"Not like _that,_ you fuckwit! Just wrap your arm around mine or something." she scolded with accusing black eyes, shaking her head in quiet irritation. He let out a little "Oh!" of realisation and quickly apologised. He linked his arm around hers, ensuring that he was careful not to knock the heart out of her hands. He wore an alarmed expression as he flicked his eyes around them, like he was waiting for something to happen. When nothing did, he shut his eyes, sensing that Miss Vial probably had them closed too.

Aemelia did indeed have her eyes shut and clamped his arm closely to her side, her mind filled with the honest wish that they were back inside the cinema above them, back to a form of normality, back to a fun environment without the cave-world full of soul-sucking monsters lurking underneath... 

Aemelia's hands were entirely out of her own control and they violently clenched around the heart, crushing the glass-work into nothing but ribbons of light and magenta smithereens. Upon the sound of it shattering, they both blinked in unison, their eyes wide with amazement as they were back _in the lobby of the cinema..._

Their presence had seemingly drawn an _audience_ \- to the public, it must have appeared that the two of them had somehow _popped_ into existence. Aemelia swallowed, internally grateful that the wish had been successful but she was incredibly uncomfortable with the entire lobby glaring at them in shock.

Cardinal immediately dropped his arm away from her and cleared his throat, taking a single step before her like he was obscuring her from view so that she could gain back her own confidence.

_"Hey there folks!"_ he announced highly, gesturing out his arms to start an over-confident out-pouring of performance. "Any of you lot got a moment to spare to have a lil' chat about _Satan?_ 'Cause let me tell ya, he's a really fuckin' cool dude." 


	7. Compromise

It was funny how easily things between the cardinal and the alchemist returned to normal. One minute they were up to their eyeballs in the supernatural, the next minute they were back to the monotony of their daily duties. Copia surrounded by mountains of paperwork, Vial surrounded by simmering pots and crackling substances.

After the ordeal of the cinema, Cardinal had felt an enormous weight lift from his shoulders - it was odd how those creatures had easily affected his mood, how they had subconsciously berated him and beaten him down. Yet now, he found even the dullest of his duties to be somewhat calming. What he had previously found a chore or another thing for him to fail at, he now _revelled_ in. He knew he may not have been the best at trivial tasks, but he was content being at least _capable_ of something. Copia often bragged about excelling at being a showman and a driving force of optimism whenever he had his stage, certain of his skill. Yet he enjoyed the simpler tasks for the time being, knowing he really wasn't the greatest scribe or listener, knowing he really wasn't the greatest satanic cardinal the Ministry had ever had.

But what did it matter? Who said he had to be _any_ of those things? 

As soon as those questions had filled his mind, he could only smile to himself. Because he knew that the answer was _no one._

Now that a few days had passed and the effect of the siphons upon Copia had passed, he'd had time to reflect upon things. Although he was a lot more content and accepting of himself - _and his mistakes_ \- he still felt that he needed to atone to Miss Vial for putting up with his perplexing behaviour, and at the very least, thank her for helping him find his true self again.

This time, he was _adamant_ that he would not forget to thank her. 

Copia knocked on the door to the apothecary just after five, hearing the enticing sounds of her crafting simmering through the thick wood of the door. He waited for about ten seconds and then grew too impatient, deciding to enter of his own accord, quietly shutting the door after himself.

From Aemelia's appearance, he realised she must have had a challenging day. She had her shirt sleeves rolled up to her elbows, her plaits fraying out from the constraints of her hair ties, her black tie was skewed out of place and her eye makeup had smudged downwards towards the centre of her cheeks. Tall blue flames emitted from the flame pit in the centre of the alchemy station, reflecting as azure tessellations in her hollow black eyes.

_"Cardinal!"_ she hailed casually over the roar of the flames, not even raising her head to acknowledge him as her focus was still firmly upon her work.

"Miss Vial." he greeted with a polite half-bow, only just raising his voice enough to be heard. "I haven't seen you for a few days, what have you been up to?"

She didn't seem to hear him as she was too mesmerised by the substance she had cupped in her hands. She carefully leaned forwards, resting her elbows on the edge of the alchemy station to pour the white coloured powder into the fire pit. Copia watched with wonder as the roaring flames were extinguished in a matter of split seconds, leaving the place silent and much less stuffy. As much as he hadn't expected to interrupt her during some kind of _experiment,_ he was at least glad that they were now free to talk without shouting at one another. He cautiously approached the desk, small remnants of blue particles in the air peaking his interest.

She sighed out with what he sensed to be _relief_ and placed her hands flat on the table like she was steadying herself from exhaustion.

"Sister Imperator really knows how to throw a _curve-ball,_ let's put it that way. And _how strange it is,_ Cardinal, _how strange_ that she has asked me if there's any way of snuffing out _hell-fire_ in a matter of seconds - "

"I can see that you have been very... ahm, _successful..."_ he interrupted quickly, peering down at the few particles fizzing away into nothing in the middle of the fire pit.

"Too right. It's taken all bloody day but I have it down."

"You, ahm... don't think she was perhaps, _joking_ with you?" he suggested, swallowing nervously for some reason as her black eyes shot towards him with slight disdain for what he was inferring.

"Well if she was, _I can fucking well do it."_ she spat, very irked by his possible explanation which he was internally quite surprised at. But then again, he would have been pretty pissed off too if he had been working hard on something that didn't really matter in the end... of course, Copia knew otherwise. He knew the _exact_ reason why Sister would suggest Miss Vial to research such a thing... from Aemelia's frustrated state alone, he decided that he wouldn't conjure hell-fire anywhere inside the Ministry anymore... _for a little while._

Yet all he did to actually reply to Miss Vial, was widen his eyes with a nod of his head, still very impressed by the fact she had managed to rise to the challenge. She was certainly a talented alchemist.

"So... what was it that worked in the end? Table salt?" he inquired in a small voice, not wishing to irritate her any further.

"I'm not sure actually." she admitted with a sigh, blowing up a stray red hair to catch it with a finger and tuck it behind her ear. "I used all manner of fucking things I have stored in here, nothing worked..."

She paused and then motioned towards the desk with her eyes, grasping her palms over the edge of it like she was holding herself up.

"Then I found this random brown paper bag underneath here." she continued, nodding down to a thin compartment which was nestled neatly into the confines of the table.

Cardinal froze abruptly and had a startled look about him but averted his eyes to the ground, ensuring that she couldn't catch sight of his concern.

"Alrighty, alrighty... seems, very... _fortunate."_ he murmured, internally already trying to come up with something to change the subject. She was clueless to his rapid nervous disposition and she continued to talk with him casually, and honestly, he was becoming far more uncomfortable with every second that went by.

"Yeah, it certainly was. I hadn't the faintest what it was so I tried - "

He swiftly raised his head upwards and blatantly glared at her, her head tilting up so she could catch sight of him this time.

"You _tried_ it?!" he interjected worriedly, his voice peaking with obvious distress. "H-How did you do that?"

She narrowed her eyes at him, bewildered by his anxious manner, but she decided to set it aside for the moment. In her mind she was hoping that his strange behaviour from the week prior wasn't making a return...

"I dipped my finger in it and tasted it, how else would you test for salt?" she responded quizzically, brushing her hands together to ensure she didn't have any particles of powder left on her skin.

He breathed out a deep wheeze and his panic dropped, one of his gloved hands patting his chest, "Thank _fuck."_

She scowled at his reaction and wore a sneer, folding her arms across her chest like she was assessing his body language.

"I _did_ recognise, however, the taste of _cocaine."_

Copia's face paled into ashen, and his arms stiffened by his sides, consequently the front of his black cassock creased and folded, making it seem like the garment was a lot tighter than it actually was. In that moment, he reminded her of a young child - pure terror of being discovered was present in his eyes and all she could do was shake her head in quiet expectancy. In all honesty, she wasn't at all surprised.

"You... did?" he asked in a timid voice and gave off a slight hint that he was a tad impressed with her judgement.

She nodded and reached below, towards the gap beneath the alchemy desk, lifting a brown paper bag from the secretive place it had been hidden. The paper crinkled as she tightly squeezed her hand around the bag, her dark, accusing eyes burning into his - which were no longer full of concern but he was somewhat... _intrigued._

"Now," she began with utmost purpose, feigning an expression of deduction. "who could have _possibly_ put such a thing _there?"_

"Some _badass,_ probably." Copia muttered with a slight snicker, his face remaining incredibly still as he rubbed the palms of his gloves together.

_"Personal stash,_ is it?"

He felt the corners of his mouth twitch at her assumption but he resisted the smile, though his eyes still gave away his amusement.

"Not _strictly,_ Miss Vial." he finally admitted, gesturing his hands about like it was no big deal - their discussion seemed very casual to him. "It's good to... liven up the mood sometimes, you know?"

"Well I think it's pretty fucking unprofessional."

_"Professional?"_ he repeated with a wobbling voice, clearly immensely amused at her comment. "Heh, and what is so _professional_ about being a _rock star,_ hm?"

"Alright, you've got me there, Copia. To be fair, I do forget that you are sometimes." Aemelia responded in a defeated tone as she squinted her eyes at him in thought, still clutching the bag of cocaine tightly. 

Cardinal wasn't sure if he should have felt _honoured_ or _offended_ by her confession... 

There was an uneasy silence and they stared at each other, both at opposite sides of the alchemy station, Copia's eyes dancing with mirth, Vial's eyes hardened with wisdom. He quickly darted himself forwards to snatch it from her grasp but she scowled deeply at him and threw up her arm behind her, holding the brown bag like it was a dangling carrot in the air.

"I'm not _allowing_ this, Cardinal." she warned, her free hand pointing towards him like she was scolding a child rather than someone who was even older than she was. "I could have been fucked over because of this being here... _at any time."_

"Hey, hey! You would have been fiiiiine - "

_"Fine?_ Things didn't end up _fine,_ anyway. No wonder those Soul Siphons got their claws into you so easy..." she argued bitterly, her fist clenching around the brown paper of the bag. "This is just the _icing_ on the fucking cake."

His playful expression dropped and his hands hung limply by his sides, his eyes softening once he realised that she was completely right. He hadn't even considered that such a thing would have implicated _her_ \- what a _fool_ he'd been.

She sighed at the puppy eyes he was shooting at her, gritting her teeth in defeat as he lifted his arms to place his palms together, like he was praying for her forgiveness. Though she thought praying for Satan's assistance was probably more likely...

"Alright... _look."_ she began sincerely as she thumped down the bag of cocaine on the desk, still firmly holding it within her clutches. "If it's nothing but recreational, _fine_ , I can't stop you. I'm perfectly content storing it in here, as long as it is to _my terms,_ alright? The only reason I'm compromising is because... I obviously need it now as well. In case of any _miraculous_ hell-fire emergencies. And I suppose you probably need it to... fire you up and make up for the fact that you're probably going a bit _senile."_

_"Excuse me?"_ Copia yelped out, taking full offence at her words.

She pursed her lips, holding in a laugh despite the seriousness of the situation. She could only feel even more amused at how insulted he was the more she thought about things.

"I am nowhere near _senile,_ thank you. The junk is still very much in the trunk, and often appears to _look_ like a trunk of an - "

_"Alright, alright!"_ she hurriedly interrupted, holding her free hand up to signify that she really did not want to hear him carry on. "That's it settled. I'll have it in a jar on the top shelf. Dispense some as you see fit. I'll be keeping a close eye on how much is in there."

He sighed out in understanding and nodded in acceptance, keeping quiet as she tucked the brown bag back into the spot she had found it for the time being. He felt guilty for burdening her with so much, every time he saw her she was learning more things about him that she had to keep a secret. He knew he could trust her though, he certainly wasn't worried about her blabbing to whole Ministry.

_"Why did you come here anyway?"_ Aemelia asked with slight annoyance, clearly irritated by his presence suddenly.

_"To see my cocaine."_ he replied in a feigned stern tone, which he immediately dropped as soon as he shook his head with amusement.

"Nah, just kidding." he said sincerely, waving his gloves to dismiss his joviality. "I just ahm, wanted to applaud you for your assistance back at... the last investigation. There has been time for things to sink in and, I realised that I never got chance to thank you before."

"Oh... alright." she said highly, uncomfortably surprised at the good will he had intended to bring her. 

"You made me realise that we can't be positive all the time." he carried on, lowering his head like he was ashamed of himself for some reason. "But we cannot let our worry loom over us all the time either. Thank you for helping me understand that."

She knitted her eyebrows and kept quiet, nodding at his thanks as she stared at the alchemy desk, unfamiliar with how polite and kind his words were.

"Sorry for being such an arse about the cocaine." she muttered in a small voice, keeping her eyes on the ground as she couldn't bring herself to stare into his eyes, which were swimming with grateful affection in that moment. "You're free to do what you wish, of course. You're adult, for goodness sake. I'm just pissed that it could have been found by _anyone._ And they would probably assume that it was _mine."_

"Your frustration is understandable." he replied, his voice rich with honesty as his eyes intensely gazed at her. "I accept your kind terms, Miss Vial, and I can honestly assure you, I have _allll_ the composure. I never intended for another person to find it... truthfully, I forgot where the fuck I put it. I must have placed it there quite some time ago..."

"When was that, _last week?"_ she poked playfully as she raised her head up to face him and he chuckled, his cheeks reddening from his amusement. 

"Your old man jokes are growing on me, Miss Vial, I have to admit." he spoke with a little more pitch to his voice, shaking a pointed finger at her.

"I have to say that _your_ jokes... certainly _aren't_ growing on _me."_

Her clever quip made the two of them pause, their gazes finally meeting for the first time in quite a few minutes. And then they both burst out into chuckles, flying into fits of giggles as their minds finally realised the surrealism of their blossoming friendship in that moment.


	8. A Lurking Trial

Copia had been hurriedly scouring the Ministry's rooms for Miss Vial all afternoon - she hadn't been in her usual place in the apothecary. When he had checked there, the whole room was in a state of disarray. She had seemingly abandoned the place while she had been in the middle of something, for there were various substances inside tubes that had been thrust into the grips of clamps, matchsticks strewn across the length of the alchemy station and a pile of scrawled requests damply clinging to the floor of the place.

After tearing away from her no-show at the apothecary, he had poked his head around door-frames of other rooms that he guessed she could have possibly been in... but all of his searching had been in vain. The only place left that he could think to check was her attic room - he rarely headed up there considering it was her own private space, but he figured it was an _emergency_ and she would surely understand if she resided there. It wasn't often that Cardinal intruded on Miss Vial, but whenever he did, he always seemed to have a good reason to do so... 

It wasn't long before he arrived by her attic room, wringing his hands together in apprehension. In truth, he hoped she wasn't there at all, even though he desperately needed her assistance. Without hesitation, he took in a deep breath and burst into her attic space, an expression of sincerity on his features.

_"Miss Vial?!_ Are you in here? I am in need of your assistance! _Miss Vi - ?"_

He took a few steps inside her quarters and there appeared to be no visible sign of her. But she must have been in the loft-space somewhere due to the record player pulsing out _Cities In Dust_ at a rather loud volume. He briefly flicked his eyes towards the music system, his ears pricking up at the sound of another voice humming along to the record. Immediately, his eyes traced the source of the voice and panic was present within them as they settled upon the bathtub, which had its curtain drawn but it was clear from the shadowy figure standing behind it, that Aemelia was currently mid-shower. Suddenly, his throat felt _extremely_ dry.

_"Ah shit..."_ he mumbled, taking a few steps back towards the door - _but it was too late._ The grey shower curtain scraped back and Aemelia's head popped around it, burgundy hair sopping wet with soap suds, streaks of faded eyeliner streaking down her cheeks.

"The fuck are _you_ doing in here?!"

The attic's door slammed behind him as he stumbled over his words, and such a thing seemed to happen to his legs too as he stuttered forwards, shielding a glove over his eyes even though she had ensured that he couldn't see anything. She wanted to smirk at how flustered and out of his depth he seemed to be, but she thought it would only make things worse, so she spared him for the time being.

"I'm surprised at your lack of _courtesy,_ Cardinal." she spoke with a pang of warning in her tone, the consistent spitting of the shower head pouring droplets down over her back and shoulder blades.

"I - _ahm..._ I did not think you would be so - " he paused as his breath caught in his throat and decided not to finish what he was about to say, turning his back towards her so that she couldn't see the red spreading across his cheeks. "You do not usually shower this early in the day... I mean, who fucking _showers_ at _3pm?"_

"Had a bit of an accident when I was crafting. Fucking thing was a skin irritant so I needed to wash it off before it started eating into my skin, that good enough reasoning?" she snapped, narrowing her dark eyes at him even though he still had his back to her.

_"Yep."_ he replied highly, not wishing to argue with her further. He heard her backing away from the curtain to stand under the shower again and he actually briefly glanced over his shoulder towards her... he immediately cursed himself and raised a hand next to his head like he was asking himself why he did such a thing, instantly averting his gaze to the floorboards below.

"So..." she yelled, the sound of the shower curtain closing causing his eyes to flicker towards the slight outline of her through the curtain. "What is it that's got your _vestments_ in a twist?"

He kept his gleaming eyes upon the shower-curtain and blindly made his way towards her bed, perching himself on the end of it. He really shouldn't have been staring at her silhouette so intently, but he really couldn't help it.

"Oh, I... need some help with Papa, that is all. But it is fine. It can wait until you are done." he replied mindlessly, now staring down at the ground in deep thought, the glowing of his cheeks only seeming to grow in redness.

"What... kind of _help_ are we talking?" she responded, the sound of scrubbing and lathering pleasant to his ears.

"Oh, you know... ahm... " he hesitated, his mind trying to remember why he had even visited her in the first place. Apparently, Miss Vial taking a shower had been far too distracting for him.

The sounds of her washing halted and she threw the curtain open dramatically, her head popping around the edge of it again with wide eyes, her hair dripping as it hung in a sodden, messy mid-parting.

"He's not _possessed_ , is he?!" she whispered loudly in excitement, black eyes shining with wonder... or perhaps it was a bit of soap that was stinging her eyes.

_"What?_ No, no, nothing like that."

_"Oh."_ she replied emptily, clearly disappointed and he actually raised his eyes towards her. He caught a glimpse of more pale skin than he had anticipated seeing and he inhaled sharply, heat burning across the cheeks of his face. Before she spotted his reaction, the curtain was violently drawn again, and her attention on washing herself was welcome to him, he needed to find his cool again...

"So, come on, don't leave me in suspense. What am I helping with?"

Cardinal sighed in defeat, tipping off his biretta into his hands so that he could stroke his hair back in the bashful hope that she wouldn't deny helping him.

"He's... _stuck on the stairs again."_

The sounds of her washing stopped again. The lonely sound of droplets from the shower and the prominent drums and bass-line of _Siouxsie and the Banshees_ from the music player only seemed to add to the awkward silence between them. He heard her stifle a laugh, even though he was located at the opposite side of the room and he sighed again, leaning forward to shield his face with his gloved palms.

"How does this concern _me?"_ she questioned in an amused, inquisitive tone - she hadn't expected such a simple problem as he usually needed help with something _otherworldly_ or _fantastical._ It was odd how a more rational, simplistic problem was something that really peaked her interest.

"I need assistance getting him out of his chair-lift." he replied with utmost apathy, his voice muffled from the hands cupping around his face.

"Can't you, like... summon a Ghoul to do that sort of thing?"

"Sure, I could. And _sure,_ they'd help him. But once he was out? They'd push him down the fucking stairs." he explained sadly, and Aemelia was immensely glad that the curtain was obstructing his view of her for the flash of amusement briefly appeared across her face.

_"Lovely..."_ she muttered with cynicism, continuing to shower, now, as quickly as she could. "Of course I'll help you, Cardinal."

He quickly raised his head out of his hands at her acceptance and decided that he could be waiting a little while longer for her, so he opted to nosy around her room. 

Confidence flooded over his awkward demeanour as he stood up, eyes full of curiosity as he trailed them over the various record sleeves she had strewn over the bed-covers. He lifted one into his gloves, admiring the artwork with interest. He smiled to himself as she began to sing along to the song again regardless of him being there and he found himself nodding along, just feeling grateful that she could help him out. 

He placed the vinyl sleeve back where it had previously been and swivelled around, his winkle-pickers clacking slightly as he twirled across to the rounded centre, where her bureau was located, piled high with novels and journals. He continued to nod his head to the beat of the music, his eyes peering down at one particular notebook...

An unfamiliar symbol was embellished upon the front of the leather journal, it was white with a black background and resembled some kind of moth. At first, Copia thought it must have been some kind of band logo, but he couldn't fit the logo to any band he knew. It was distinctive - one side of the creature appeared to be normal, whereas the other looked as if it was withering, one of its wings dismantled and on display a few millimetres away from its body.

It definitely had some significance but he kept his mouth shut, his frown deepening with quiet contemplation. He slid the journal to the side and his eyes softened at the sight of something that had been residing underneath.

"What is this you have, ah?" he asked with a small smile, already attaching his hands onto the thin lengths of papers backed in glue and plastic. It was a reel of at least thirty to forty rectangular stickers, and from the smell of ink it seemed like they had been recently printed. He brought them up close enough so that he could read them and it wasn't long before mirth filled his eyes.

_"Fuck off, Cardinal."_ he read with the most monotonous tone she had ever heard from him and he shook his head in disbelief, discarding them back onto the bureau like he had just touched something disgusting.

"Thought I would have them printed in case you ever end up going _deaf."_ she quipped loudly, and even though Cardinal couldn't see her, he could sense that she was smirking.

"Y'know... you never need to say _anything,_ Aemelia." he responded, gesturing a hand towards her as he slowly shook his head in disapproval. "I can tell _perfectly_ well when you want me to fuck off just from the look on your face."

"Alright, don't push your luck, Copia." she scolded, rounding an arm around the curtain so she could stick two fingers up at him. "I'll be out in five."

He smirked and for once, he was eternally thankful that she was unable to see it.

* * *

The last place that Miss Vial had expected Copia to lead her was to Papa's private quarters. As they approached the extravagant door, Cardinal shot his eyes towards her, her expression of nervous reluctance present on her features. He had thought that overlooking a few rules wouldn't have bothered her, but it clearly seemed to.

He placed a glove over his chest as they came to a stop before Papa's door. He used the other to lightly land three swift knocks in the centre of the wood, swivelling on the spot. He made sure that he turned towards Aemelia to give her a reassuring and over-confident nod of the head. She rolled her eyes in response, tucking a damp bunch of her darkened hair behind her left ear. 

Ever since he had intruded upon her shower, it had seemed to cause his behaviour towards her to shift. He was still very much himself but he felt like he had something to _prove,_ completely forgetting that he couldn't exactly prove _anything_ considering that he had asked _her_ for assistance. 

He returned his attention to the door and stepped back away from it expectantly. He shot another quick glance towards her and she met his stare - he held his eyes upon her and found that he couldn't look away, her worried black eyes freezing him to the ground and interrupting his thought process.

Before he could open his mouth to say anything, the door slowly swung open, a Ghoul adorning a chrome mask emerging from the warm, fiery atmosphere of the room on the other side. The Ghoul tilted his head to the left, spindly arms holding the heaviness of the door open with very little effort. His attention was directly upon Copia, who was still gazing at Aemelia with a ridiculous look upon his face. She had lost interest in his stare sometime ago, not that he had seemed to notice.

The Ghoul stamped his foot like he was impatient, or perhaps it was his only way of demanding attention. Copia immediately cleared his throat as a consequence, blinking away whatever thoughts he had been distracted by. Without a word, he gave the Ghoul a single stern stare and immediately, the Ghoul shifted aside, bowing his head in respect of the two of them.

Copia entered, ignoring the Ghoul who manned the door to Nihil's quarters. Aemelia was hot on Copia's tail, nodding gratefully at the door-Ghoul who merely swiped a hand towards her in dismissal of her thanks, but the eyes gleamed with honest appreciation. He ensured the door shut quietly and then calmly stood in a dormant manner, back straight with his hands crossed over the black fabric of his stomach.

Miss Vial took her attention away from the mysterious Ghoul to instead study the room before her. The place seemed like a treasure trove of items from the late sixties and early-seventies - classic movie posters framed the walls, rainbow-themed carpeting and floor mats dominated the floor and the most vivid source of light was being churned out of two orange lava lamps, situated either side of the fireplace. The whole room had a funky mood and she could only feel that it was reminiscent of a room belonging to sixties _rock star_ \- strangely, she was completely correct with her assumptions.

She followed Copia closely, noticing how out of place he appeared to be in amongst all of the strangely colourful and novel decor, his cassock an opaque, heavy void... she supposed she wouldn't lose sight of him in a hurry. As much as she felt that she too was out of place and should not have been stepping a single foot into Nihil's living space, her curiosity peaked and she allowed Copia to lead her through the area, regardless of how much it made her feel uncomfortable... after all, she was intruding on the quarters belonging to the _head_ of the Ministry and she hadn't even visited Copia's quarters.

"Where are his stairs?" she whispered harshly, her breaths landing onto the small snippet of his nape's skin and he paused to visibly shiver. She too paused, and he quickly swivelled to face her, a sincere expression on his face.

"Why are you whispering? We are not _robbing_ the place, Miss Vial. Lighten up!" he replied in a hushed tone with a prominent strain to his voice, gesturing towards her with a lazily pointed finger. "Shit! Now you got _me_ whispering!"

He cleared his throat and turned from her, continuing to guide them forwards through Nihil's living room.

"His stairs are not far - _he is bone idle."_ he added in a louder volume, the sound of his usual tone quite reassuring to her at that moment. "And he _is_ a _bone idol,_ heh! He had the stairs made in the centre. Makes travelling to different rooms easy for him."

It wasn't long before they reached a wide and surprisingly white-walled space, limestone stairs immaculately glistening and gold laced banisters gleaming with excellence. At first glance, Aemelia could tell that the staircase was indeed the central hub for Nihil's other spacious rooms. From her spot at the bottom step, she could trail her eyes either side of her and was surrounded by an open-plan choice of rooms. As much as she wished that she could explore the place, she already felt immoral for even being there.

Cardinal cleared his throat and was leaning against the golden banister and she instantly faced him, sensing how amused and aware of her curiosity he was. He leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest, shaking his head in mock disappointment like he was criticising her for being distracted on the job.

She ignored his playful actions and instead, raised her eyes to focus on the elaborate staircase. It was quite steep and had white wires wrapped around each thin wooden support attached to the banister, a metal strip descending the wall on the opposite side of the stairs. At first she wasn't exactly sure what the fittings were for, but it became clear when she recalled that Copia had said Nihil was stuck on the stairs... clearly, Papa had installed a _stair-lift._

"Is he really that _frail?"_ she murmured to herself, hearing Copia's shoes scuff as he began to slowly scale a few of the steps.

"Oh, not at all, Miss Vial." he explained with a small smile as she began to follow him up the stairs. "He's an old bitter _fuck,_ what do you expect? A fragile, fragile man, by all means, _yes._ But only on the _inside,_ you know? You think he had this lift installed for his frail _body?_ No, he just cannot be bothered to take the stairs anymore. His legs work perfectly fucking fine, I shit you not."

Miss Vial wasn't certain that she found Copia's negativity to be any help whatsoever, and nor did she find it that funny, so she kept quiet, her eyes catching a glimpse of the old man up ahead.

It wasn't many more steps until they were level with him. Snores intermittently snorted out from Nihil's nose and throat. His head was faced downwards, his greyed eyelids concealing the existence of reality occurring around him. His pale cream robes were ruffled and his arms lightly clutched around his tummy like he was subconsciously using his robes as a snug blanket as he heavily napped.

Despite the slight slobber coating his bottom lip and the position of his head - his chin grazing over the rough embroidery of his vestments - his personal skull-paint wasn't a smudge out of place, and nor was the mitre atop his head.

Aemelia felt uncomfortable as she laid eyes on him. To see somebody who was allegedly immensely _powerful_ in a state of complete slumber, left her realising how vulnerable even the most powerful of people could be. A chill ran across her spine, like her mind was taking note of her own vulnerability - she too, may have had a powerful force tamed and encased within her, but she had to remember that she was not exempt to vulnerability.

"I _ah..._ don't want to touch him..." Copia confessed, his gloves creaking as he wriggled his fingers in physical reluctance.

"You're wearing _gloves."_ Aemelia retorted in annoyance, shaking her head in disbelief of how pathetic he was being. She neared Nihil regardless of Cardinal's complaint, already crouching slightly to lift Papa out from his chair.

_"Yeeeeah,_ I am, but - "

"You're so full of _shit,_ Copia." she snapped firmly, flinging her body around to face him with a scolding glare. "Come and _help,_ would you?"

He sighed and waved at her to stop chastising him and rounded the opposite side of Nihil, attempting to focus on the task at hand. It was obvious that he wasn't too keen on assisting Nihil at all and had presumably planned on having Miss Vial take care of the _entire_ problem for him - but he was weak to the animosity in her black eyes.

"Does this happen often?" she whispered softly, gently sliding her arm around Nihil's left arm as Copia mirrored her actions with the right. They carefully lifted him from the plastic olive-green seat and he began to topple to the right, landing his cheek onto Cardinal's left shoulder to use it as a pillow. Copia let out a quiet noise of disgust and merely pulled his head as far away from Nihil as possible, not wishing to wake him but very much wishing for less physical contact.

"It is becoming more frequent." he whispered back through gritted teeth. "Sister usually has some of the _Siblings_ deal with this, but I do not think she peeped in on him like she usually does. I could not ensure that a Sibling would stay quiet if I required their help. They are not all so friendly to me."

"Well, I'm more than happy to help, Cardinal." she breathed out, leaning heavily to the right to keep Nihil on a straight path towards the living room. 

They maneuvered him effortlessly unbeknownst to his knowledge, even when their grips on him became a little more firm as they had to steer him around various ornaments and pieces of abstract furniture. Miss Vial knew there was something not quite right about just how _asleep_ Nihil appeared to be, but she kept her thoughts to herself.

"The couch!" Cardinal instructed in a forceful whisper, the soles of his winkle-pickers loudly rustling over the tubed bristles of the multicoloured rug beneath their feet.

She quietly abided by his order and continued to assist moving the surprisingly hefty old man, her black eyes narrowing in speculation. No _way_ was he merely _asleep._ She knew he must have been _unconscious_ because she was aware that if he had truly been asleep, he would easily have felt or at least have been _aware_ of being moved... but he was none-the-wiser.

They soon carried him across the length of his living room between the two of them, reaching his leather recliner where his preferred seat was heavily worn and grooved from use. Aemelia ensured she had a careful grip upon him as she lowered him onto the couch, unlike Copia, who had snatched his hands away from his superior as soon as the backs of the old man's legs had been grazing the leather of the cushions. As a consequence, Nihil was propelled backwards in one overly dramatic movement, until he fell into his seat with a loud _thump._

Aemelia scowled and gave Copia an accusing glare, to which he raised up his gloves in surrender like he'd had _no choice_ in his actions whatsoever. Rolling her dark eyes away from him to settle them back on Nihil, her mirthless hardened expression deteriorated into one of deep concern.

As she worriedly gazed upon Nihil, who still had his head angled toward the ground, Copia was growing quietly impatient, lightly hopping from foot to foot as he stood opposite the alchemist, waiting for her to return her attention to him.

As he milled around, hoping for her to acknowledge him, her face was diminishing in colour with every second that passed. She kept silent and leaned down, narrowing her eyes to study and understand what she was witnessing in front of her.

Nihil was still slobbering but was now murmuring incoherently, small delicate black droplets trickling down from the sides of his mouth. Upon a passing glance, it could have easily have been mistaken as a smudge in his facial paint, but to her skilled eye, it was clear what such a substance was.

It was a dense, diluted poison that she had been consistently concocting for a few _months,_ solely for the purpose of handing it over to _Sister Imperator._ And there it was, presently mixing with Nihil's saliva and trailing towards his chin... her heart felt like it was about to explode from how much horror she felt, realising how much of a _vital role_ she was currently playing in the plans of Sister Imperator. In a split second, Aemelia decided that it was about time that such a thing stopped. She had trusted Imperator implicitly, but now she knew to question the woman's every move, regardless of whatever reasoning she would inevitably have.

"You, ah... you doing anything tonight?" Cardinal inquired with a peaked voice, breaking the implied rules of their hushed voices to interrupt the jarring revelation she was having. "Y'know, just asking... for _no reason._ I just figured if you will be alone... I... _ahm..._ I will also be... alone. We could maybe try play some Satan-themed Scrabble... or just fucking _summon_ something. I am so _bored_ of all the work and no play. I wish to break the monotony of routine, Miss Vial. I hope you would not mind if - _Miss Vial?"_

She didn't respond to his hope-filled admittance, unaware of how his mismatched eyes shined, yearning for her to stare back at him and accept his offer.

"Is... everything okie-dokie, Aemelia?" he breathed, leaning forwards so that he could place a reassuring glove upon her shoulder, worry clearly upon his features as he could feel how tense her muscles were beneath his touch.

"It's fine." she quickly whispered, her heart pounding with such painful regret that she had to lie to him - but what other choice did she have? 

She couldn't admit she had aided Sister Imperator in poisoning Papa Nihil. As much as she had previously had no inkling of what the poison was for, she was internally beating herself up. She shouldn't have treated Sister any different to any other stranger that entered the apothecary.

From that single realisation, Miss Vial knew that she could no longer trust anyone.


	9. A Delicious Manifestation

After some contemplation, Aemelia Vial had unusually decided to make two things right. 

Even after a few days since she and Copia had lifted Nihil from his stair-lift, she still held tremendous guilt for being an accomplice to the anti-pope's poisoning and it was constantly on her mind. She felt that merely changing the concoction - which she still planned on passing over to Sister every few weeks - wasn't enough. She needed to do something else to make up for her unintended action, even if it appeared to be something out of the blue.

She cast her mind back a little while and recalled that Cardinal had spoken of Papa Nihil's passion for junk food and it seemed like the easiest way of doing something kind for Nihil. She didn't wish for the old man's thanks, as she figured that she could also soften out the rocky relationship between Nihil and Copia. She was hoping that Papa would assume the gesture was from Cardinal at the very least and reward him accordingly. Given that the last few weeks had been quite depressing and lack-luster for Cardinal, she wished to ensure that he was due some definite positivity.

It was seven-thirty on a Friday, and there she was, waiting patiently outside Papa's quarters, taking deep breaths to keep herself calm as she clutched onto a deluxe-sized pizza box with her palms. She needed to get a _grip -_ she planned on repeating the gesture every week so she couldn't feel so anxious every time she ended up delivering him a bit of food. She supposed the anxiety would ease once it was routine, after all, the last time she had visited his quarters he had been heavily docile as a side-effect of the poison. She really hoped he wouldn't spot her sneaking in...

Without another thought, she rapped one set of knuckles across the thickly polished wood of the door. She had anticipated waiting a little bit, but to her surprise, the door slowly creaked open, revealing the same Ghoul from the time before who was still tending to door duties. He bowed his masked-head in acceptance of her presence and moved aside, earning a quizzical expression from her - she could only assume that he must have remembered her visiting last time, and of course, she had been with Copia. Perhaps the cardinal's presence had been enough to show the Ghoul that she had some sort of _exemption_ or _importance._

She ignored the many questions flying around her mind and nodded her head gratefully towards the thin Ghoul, whose eyes gleamed as she passed by him. He could only bow lower to show how much he appreciated her thanks and then once again, returned to his door duties. 

The living room was exactly how she had recalled it being last time. Nothing obvious had moved out of place, other than probably a couple of puzzle-books upon the coffee table and the remote to the television set. She really didn't want to dawdle about in there as her nerves were beginning to spike again and she crept through the space as quickly as she could, widening her black eyes once she heard the disconcerting sound of a _choked breath..._

She halted immediately, her eyes scanning the area around her to search for the source of the noise. Once she settled her sights upon Papa Nihil in his place on the heavily worn couch, she exhaled out quietly, realising he was completely asleep from the subtle hum of snores coming from him. He seemed completely out of it like last time, but she couldn't see any black droplets of poison this time, it was _reassuring,_ at least. She continued her actions regardless of the anti-pope's slumbering presence, hoping that he would keep his eyelids firmly shut.

The soles of her black oxfords rustled slightly over the multicoloured fibres of the rug beneath her feet and she clenched her teeth in concern, her hands tightly gripping onto the sides of pizza box - her grasp on the box was so firm in fact, that she really wouldn't have been surprised if her fingertips had pushed holes through the warm cardboard.

Nihil's snores grew into a snorting crescendo and she froze in her tracks, arms extended out and poised over his garish teak coffee table. His head slowly fell back and his mouth hung open, his loud snores continuing to rise up from his throat.

As much as the sound of his snores grated on her and peaked her anxiety, she focused on her task and lowered the pizza box down to the coffee table, her hands shaking with nerves. The box quietly landed onto the sprawl of various puzzle-books and magazines and she was thankful for the amount of reading material that was located there, it seemed to cushion out the sound perfectly.

His ear-prickling snores subsided and she visibly relaxed her stance, fishing out a luminous pink pad of post-it notes from one of the pockets inside of her blazer. To save time she had already scrawled a message on the first layer of paper, and she peeled it from the pad, leaning down to smack it firmly against the lid of the pizza box. She rubbed the top of the note to ensure that the glue had enough grip and once she was content with everything, she swiftly swivelled around to quietly tip-toe out the way she had came.

It had been much easier _leaving_ than entering, but as soon as the Ghoul had closed the door after Aemelia, the subtle _thud_ of it closing had startled Nihil awake and he spluttered into reality, wondering what the source of such a small noise had been. Before he called out in complaint of his nap being interrupted, he squinted his eyes in suspicion, his nostrils flaring as he began to sniff intermittently. 

The most alluring and delicious aroma wafted up his nose and he smiled broadly, the unmistakable scent of freshly cooked pizza causing him to let out a giddy chuckle of excitement. He hopped up from his place on the couch with very little effort, dashing over towards the source of the smell instantly, like a vampire drawn to the scent of Copia's blood. At the sight of the wide deluxe pizza-box, he scrunched his face in confusion, looking around his room to see if there was some form of explanation for how it had come to be. After nothing immediately obvious stuck out to him, he shrugged and instead let out an enthusiastic _"Oh-hoh!"_ as he rubbed his callous hands together, anticipating the joy of flipping the pizza-box's lid upwards. Although he was desperate to open the box, he swallowed and trailed his blank eyes around the place, ensuring he was alone.

_"Sister?"_ he questioned loudly, hoping she would pop out of some hiding place to confirm his suspicions - but then he remembered it was _Friday night._ She conducted unholy scripture night-classes for Siblings on a Friday night, so there was no way that the mysterious existence of the take-out box was anything to do with her.

He knitted his eyebrows in deep thought and extended out his arms towards the food-box, his eyes wide like he was staring at a cursed object. Without much more stalling, he cautiously reached a hand towards it, his bones cracking slightly as he bent down carefully. He paused his movements for a second, flicking his eyes from left to right, ensuring that he was _definitely_ on his own...

Then he rushed in at the last second and prodded the cardboard lid, jumping backwards with his arms in a stance ready to block something like he was prepared if something were to manifest itself before him. He frowned, realising that it really _must_ have been just a _fresh pizza_ and huffed at his bout of paranoia, waving a hand to dismiss his ridiculous behaviour as he shook his head.

He didn't appear to notice the bright pink note attached to the lid because he bypassed it to push the tabs of the cardboard away, unveiling the steaming pizza inside. He grinned gleefully and mischievously giggled in anticipation, the scents of tomato, cheese and herbs making his mouth water.

He couldn't _wait_ to devour its gooey, cheese-formed existence, but that didn't stop the anti-pope from questioning how such a thing had gotten there. It didn't take long before his fried mind jumped to conclusions and he nodded to himself, deciding that there could only be one explanation...

It _had_ to be a miraculous _gift_ from Satan Himself, a reward to ensure that Nihil knew he was doing a tip-top job of heading the Ministry. 

But in truth, it was not. If only he hadn't been so oblivious and had spotted the post-it note stuck to the lid of the pizza-box...


	10. The Pit

Miss Vial was usually a heavy sleeper, but the eerie sounds that rang throughout the Ministry's halls that night were certainly too disturbing to ignore. She was laid in bed on her right side, one ear to the pillow, the left pricked up in interest. The noises were beyond horrifying and she hoped she was the only one hearing them. Sounds of _tearing,_ incessant slathering, fleshy fat-feet pounding the floor, the odd animalistic exhale, scrapes of gnarled claws on stone... from the variety of noises she was hearing, she knew that nothing good could have been occurring during the early hours.

She huffed and decided that there was no way she would rest at all if she continued to ignore the concerning noises and threw her bed-covers away from her, revealing baggy black pyjama bottoms - which were covered in _Looney Tunes_ characters - and a worn-out, over-sized _Judas Priest_ shirt that was fraying at the seams. She sat up so that she could swing her legs across the side of her mattress, her fingers lightly pressing the tight skin beneath her eyes. The skin surrounding her eye-sockets felt taut and swollen causing her to sigh in disappointment, grumbling as she reluctantly rose to her feet. 

Her tiredness seemed to disappear swiftly, instead replaced with stubborn energy as she sprang up from her bed and quickly slipped on some footwear - fluffy grey slippers which were in the guise of clawed _monster feet._ She headed towards her bureau with purpose, using the light of the moon which was brilliantly shining through the stain-glass window to guide her to her destination.

The sounds still carried on as she crouched down by her desk, muttering something to herself as she blindly reached her arm towards the item that she recalled placing there. Much to her relief, she felt for the grip of the lantern and lifted it up with ease, her bones creaking slightly as she stood up straight. She held the black lantern - which contained a thick beige candle - close to her chest as she carefully made her way towards the door, using the moonlight to aid her once again. 

Once by the door, she unhooked her black blazer from its perch, wrestling something out of the pocket before hurriedly shrugging it on over her shoulders. Her red hair fell messily across the sides of her face and the shoulders of her jacket, crimson wisps tangled and gleaming from the blue of the dim moonlight. The moonlight seeped away slightly as she quickly struck a match, oranges and golds causing her pallid features to glow with hellish undertones. She balanced the lantern's handle across her right wrist and swung its small door open, using the matchstick to ignite the candle inside. 

Once the candle was lit, she shook out the match, carelessly tossing its blackened remnants over the floorboards behind her. The sounds were still eating through her ears, and even more so when she threw open her door, outstretching her arm so that the path before her was well lit.

As much as the sounds were louder now that she had left her attic room, she had the sense that the source of the noise was moving away from her and immediately, her feet began to move after the sounds. She thrust her lantern out before her eyes, warding off the clinging shadows which covered every inch of the Ministry's hallways. She was pulled into wandering down the stairs, soon passing by the door to Copia's office, heading into the unknown depths of the old complex. After a series of twists and turns, crumbling and cramped corridors, she had somehow emerged into the newer marble-themed complex, unaware of how she had gotten there so quickly. 

The scratching and bounding began to fade away as she entered a much wider hallway, the light from her lantern bouncing from the polished marble walls and floors. She didn't want to lose track of the source of the noise, so she began to jog down the vacant corridor, the smack of her slippers' soles clattering to fill the space behind her. Her black eyes squinted through the darkness ahead of her, the shadows retracting to unveil a part of the Ministry she had never seen before - and her ears were telling her that the trail of noise was coming from there.

Without much hesitation, she rushed towards the foreign area, a staircase with steps that had been curved and flattened due to erosion and time. She didn't question the fact that they seemed far too old to be inside the new complex, but her mind was too focused on the noises still, which were now almost non-existent. She quickly descended the steps as fast as she could, wondering just how far down she was actually going - the ceiling of the newer complex felt so far away now that she was heading further and further down below...

Once she had reached the bottom, there was a large obstructing doorway containing two heavy iron doors. Rust glazed over their metallic decorations, making any symbolism they had once featured indistinguishable. Considering how low they were situated, Aemelia could only guess that the area on the other side of the doors must have been some kind of _undercroft_ \- there was only one way to find out.

She didn't have much hope in getting through to the other side, but she pulled one of the stiff, cold door-handles nonetheless, heaving out a breath of surprise when the bottom of the metal door began to scrape against the stone of the floor. She pulled with all of her might and it wasn't long before the contents of the undercroft was revealed to her. Her curiosity spiked and she ignored any of the red flags in the back of her mind, too focused on investigating the source of audible horror she had heard.

She slipped into the doorway, gasping a little as the door slammed forcefully behind her, sealing in her choice to investigate. She really hoped she could get back _out..._

Upon entering the undercroft, the lack of light sources was immediately evident. The air was musty and had the prominent odour of rotting flesh and dried blood. Aemelia scoffed and threw up her left arm, masking her face with the sleeve of her blazer.

Walking into the impending gloom of the undercroft, she felt utterly _defenceless._ She hadn't brought a _single_ item to defend herself with and was there in her _pyjamas and monster slippers_ \- no creature could possibly find her intimidating or serious at all. She just hoped there wasn't anything down there.

Despite her lack of confidence, she thrust the flickering lantern in front of her, truly thankful she at least had a light source to navigate the torrid space of the undercroft. She hadn't been so sure what to expect, given the rest of the Ministry was fairly artistic and well kept in terms of cleanliness and architecture. But the undercroft was neither of the latter, its surroundings were imposing and provocative.

Statues of various satanic deities lined the central aisle, looming over her like they were warning a non-believer to watch their step. Dusty chandeliers quietly squeaked as they swung overhead, white speckles settling in her messy burgundy hair. In the middle of the aisle was a central pathway, leading into two separate sections of the place. She took a few steps forwards, drawn to the sight of a warm glow in the distance.

Once she strode further, the source of the glow was apparent. At the very end of the aisle was an extravagant oil-painted portrait of a young man, who adorned gold-embroided black robes and very simplistic skeletal-paint. A small collection of black candles had been lit beneath the picture of the man, and she paused in her tracks, realising someone else in the Ministry must have visited such a place to light them. From the dust and cobwebs and the unsettling atmosphere, she wondered who felt that they had to do such a thing on a _regular_ basis - melted wicks and wilting rose-petals had clearly been left sometime ago - Aemelia couldn't understand why a shrine worshipping the man in the picture appeared to be so _secretive_ and _exclusive_ to the undercroft...

She glanced at the picture speculatively to study the man's eyes, and they were undoubtedly reminiscent of Copia's but far more threatening and overwhelming. Now feeling slightly unnerved by the painting, she decided to explore one of the off-shoot rooms, hoping it wouldn't be as creepy as the entrance hall had been... but she really couldn't have been more wrong.

The room she had entered was cold and decrepit. A vandalised alter laid cracked and crumbling in the centre of the room, stone-slabs formed the ground underfoot, ripped drapes attempted to conceal the dismal grey stone of the walls - it was more like a _dungeon,_ than a room in an undercroft. Despite the fact that Aemelia was incredibly uncomfortable with her surroundings, she was driven by the urge to investigate, insisting that nobody else would so she felt compelled to do so.

As she reluctantly wandered further into the space, she began to notice that the place had countless darkened crevices, the shadows thick and opaque to the eye. If she had been anyone who was oblivious and inexperienced, she would have easily overlooked what was _hunched_ there. Her heart began to pound in the backs of her eyes and her journey around the room became far more stealthy, each of her footsteps more important than the last.

It was unnerving what the shadows could conceal if someone just merely glanced them over.

The creatures that dwelled in the space of the undercroft slept soundly. She wouldn't have even noticed their presence, were it not for her trained-eye and the eventual echoing slap of the rubber of her slippers over a wide spill of blood that had bled out across the ground. Bodies were left as nothing but bones and shreds of chewed up tendons, torn robe-cloth lying dormant amongst the puddles of blood. The corpses seemed to have been carelessly discarded like they had been an irritating bit of _wishbone_ that the creatures had found stuck in their teeth.

The presence of corpses told Miss Vial all she needed to know in order to understand the _type_ of beings that inhabited the dreadful place. Her eyes darted about as she continued to slowly delve through the expanse of the room, settling on the very well hidden beasts that she was sure she was truly seeing. Once she had seen one, she seemed to spot more and more.

Great, lumbering creatures overlapped their slender arms across their bare chests, their skin pale grey to effortlessly blend with the shadows they incubated in. They hung from the tall ceiling, tucked themselves into fetus positions into alcoves and unsuspecting shadows, all the while lying dormant after having their nightly feast.

These vampires appeared extremely _intimidating_ compared to any others she had previously encountered and from the look of their visceral leftovers, she could tell that they must have been positively _feral._ The atmosphere was unnervingly quiet as she halted her movements, peering at the undercroft around her, hoping that she hadn't missed the sight of one nearby, hoping that she hadn't suddenly become engulfed by shadows.

Aemelia rarely felt threatened by what some would call _monstrosities_ or _supernatural manifestations,_ but the vampires around her then, sparked fear within her that she did not know she could ever feel. She felt defenceless and pathetic, and only hoped they would keep their eyes firmly shut until she had turned around and made good progress in order to escape.

She kept her movements smooth and fluid, swivelling on the spot as she fought to keep her heart rate down. If she could keep calm, she had less chance of them detecting her presence - at least, that's what she hoped.

She began to retrace her steps, her eyes wandering about the sheet of darkness, spotting more and more beasts, curled up and fast asleep, grumbling in appreciation as they revelled in their slumber. The subtle slap of the blood beneath her feet made her grit her teeth as her black irises studied each one intently, their sharp claws digging in to pierce the stone of the ceiling so that they could drape themselves upside down, the length of their bodies spanning at least three of Aemelia. She was grateful for how tall the ceilings were, because she didn't really fancy trying to _crawl beneath_ one of them...

To her relief, when she finally tore her eyes away from the nesting vampires, she walked into the threshold of the entrance hall again and she swallowed, her throat dry from apprehension. She swerved to the right and her nervousness finally peaked, and she bolted down the hallway, finding the ominous statues of satanic symbols a lot more comforting compared to the pit of vampires she had just discovered. Her grey monster slippers clapped the hard slabs, the sound bouncing loudly from both of the high walls. She was certain that it would alert them, but she really didn't care - she needed to get out of there as fast as she could. 

Not wishing to delay her escape any further, she clutched the lantern to her chest and turned towards the place she was fleeing, glancing back in horror as the crackling snarl of something was subtly present. She mumbled a curse to herself and brashly threw her back against the heavy double-doors to the much cosier space of the Ministry, clenching her teeth as the snarling grew into choked roars...

The dense doors soon clattered shut dramatically before her, separating her from the creatures she had alerted. She could hear their muffled breaths and the wince-worthy scratching of their claws against the other side of the doors but she instantly backed away, knowing she had to seize the chance of getting away while she could. She extended out the lantern again, marching purposefully up the staircase, wanting to be in the familiar marble-walled comfort of the Ministry. 

It wasn't long before she reached the top and she expelled a relieved sigh, not even pausing for a split-second before she hurried her way through the long stretch of corridor before her...

Due to the width of the main corridor, she suddenly had the sense that something was attempting to _pass_ her - she halted in terror as she felt something fabric-like briefly drape by her shoulder and she inhaled sharply at the sight of what had just ignored her. Copia was rolling about the corridors on an adult-sized _tricycle_ \- even though it was past three in the morning - and Aemelia's jaw dropped open... she wondered whether she was slowly going _mad._ Her extreme feeling of _fear,_ had now been replaced with the extreme feeling of _confusion._

The black of his cassock flowed behind him as he began to pick up speed, the tricycle's pedalling mechanism creaking loudly. As much as the sight of his childish antics was a bit of a shock to her, she could only presume he was playing around the Ministry in the early hours to pursue an end to his insomnia. She supposed doing such an activity would make him _physically_ fatigued at the very least... 

Her own assumptions did not stop her mind from boggling from the ever-growing series of strange occurrences and before she knew it, her mouth was moving and a loud echoing _"The fuck?!"_ rang out, filling the silence of the corridor effortlessly. She froze completely still and clamped her lips shut, her black eyes wide as she clapped her left hand over her mouth. The tricycle let out an unholy screech as Copia squeezed the brakes, the frame shuddering as he peered over his left shoulder, his eyes shining towards her even though he was almost at the other end of the hall to her. He was so utterly stunned at the unusual sight of her in unexpected pyjamas and comfy slippers that he seemed oblivious to the fact that his tricycle still appeared to be moving slightly.

_"A-Aemelia?!"_ he exclaimed out in a choke, the strain in his voice reverberating off of the walls with ease, sounding overly loud once it graced her ears.

Before she could open her mouth to at least explain or ward him off, he glared his eyes and immediately swung his head back around to face where he had been heading - _but it was too late._ The tricycle piled into the wall on the left and he mustered out an exhausted sigh, tumbling off the seat into a few ridiculous long strides to stop himself from falling over.

Before he could recover his tricycle ride completely, Aemelia took his crash as a useful opportunity, and turned on the slippery heels of her monster feet, hurriedly bolting from the strange and awkward scene before any conversation could arise between them.

* * *

Copia had managed to get a couple of hours of sleep in the early morning - his mind must have burnt out from his thoughts racing about the sight of Aemelia that night. His legs were also aching from how long he had pedalled that damn tricycle for - he had decided on doing a few more laps of the main corridors in case he bumped into her again, but he hadn't so much as seen a single soul. After some internal deliberation, he had parked his tricycle in his personal quarters and had crashed out on his lavish sofa before he had even managed to crawl in the direction of his bedroom.

His brain had been programmed to detect when the approach of nine-in-the morning was looming and he had jumped awake at eight-forty, an unpleasant feeling of anxiousness pulsing through him. He felt exhausted yet startled and he prised himself up from his slouched position on the couch, murmuring in irritation when his bare feet felt something foreign beneath them - it appeared that his discarded cassock had slipped from his person and onto the floor.

He had assumed that he'd still been wearing it, but in reality, he had been using it as a thin blanket. He hummed in thought and lifted it up, ensuring it was not inside out before quickly pulling the garment over his head, his hands smoothing down the material over the dishevelled black shirt, braces and slim trousers that he adorned underneath.

He glanced at the neat watch wrapped around his wrist and nodded in acceptance, slightly annoyed he didn't have time to shower, but he had much larger things to ponder - like why he had seen Miss Vial in her pyjamas around the halls of the Ministry _at three in the morning..._

He slipped on his plain black cuban-heels and immediately vacated his quarters, neglecting his usual routine of a calming shower and a refreshing morning coffee. But he was too preoccupied with Miss Vial, so much so, that he ended up leaving his biretta and gloves on the coffee table.

As he wandered from his private quarters, he soon joined the bustle of the Ministry's hallways, ignoring the accusing and concerned glances he was receiving due to his state of dress and incredibly unkempt nest of chestnut hair. Although more and more Siblings of Sin caught onto his unusual lack of smartness, he remained oblivious, continuing to mindlessly follow the same route he always took just before nine on a morning, his eyelids heavy with fatigue the closer to his office that he became.

He frowned lightly as he felt his hands growing cold and he clasped them together, quietly sighing in annoyance when skin met skin - he loathed not wearing his usual gloves, but he lacked effort to turn back around to grab them now. He shoulder-barged into his office, furrowing his brow deeper when he realised that he rarely ever shut his door. As he leaned against it to ensure it stayed open, he extended out a leg, sweeping his rat-themed doorstop towards him with the side of his shoe. When it was in place and held the weight of the door perfectly, he entered his disorganised office.

He wandered through the stacks of scriptures and paperwork, his feet sliding to grip onto something as papers now concealed the majority of the plush carpeting. Even with the mass of paperwork, immediately something stood out to him as he glanced over at his bureau. Pots of ink and various styles of quills had been arranged neatly and weren't in their usual place, so he rushed over to his desk instantly, knowing someone had clearly entered his office without his knowledge. 

As he slid the few pots of equipment out from the centre of the table, he narrowed his eyes in interest, catching sight of a bright pink post-it note which had been placed over a large stack of ancient scriptures nearby. He squinted at the scrawled writing but sighed in defeat, dropping down into his leather armchair as he reached into one of the bureau's drawers. After fishing out a small pair of reading glasses with silver frames, he opened them up and slid them on, peering down at the neon-coloured note that had been left for him.

_Copia,_   
_Avoid the undercroft at all costs. Need to devise a plan for pest control. Lots of them to be rid of, will require much effort. Until then please announce that the area is off-limits in a sermon or something._   
_\- A.Vial_

From the slanted, scribbled nature of Miss Vial's handwriting, it was clear that she had written it down in a state of panic and he paused for a moment, placing a bare hand over his forehead. If Miss Vial was the one speaking of _vermin,_ he knew it could be no infestation of the _rat-kind_ like the small furry rodents that he secretly treasured. It must have been an infestation of something _far_ much more threatening. He swallowed in concern and glanced back down at her note, reading intently.

_p.s. It's the blood-sucking kind of pests, so I'd advise you to stay clear especially. Steer clear of vampires. Don't be a fucking toss-pot, Copia. _

He raised his brows at the last line but he was too worried about the fact she had written of a pit of vampires operating beneath the very heart of the Ministry. He was stunned how casually she had informed him of such a thing in a scribbled post-it note, but he was thankful for the notice, considering he had been roaming the Ministry's corridors consistently for months, _all alone._ He could have been attacked by them _at any time_ and _no one would have known..._

Sweat began to glisten over his palms and he inhaled sharply, reaching up his hands to readjust his reading spectacles. Once they were in a more comfortable position, his eyes flicked to another post-it beside the first that he had read, half-torn and vividly orange.

_Also pretty sure Sister Imperator is poisoning Papa. Just a hunch but just to be safe I've changed the concoction I've been making for her. Think we'd better keep an eye on her. I'm trusting you with this so you better not tell anyone._

He backed away from the bureau and swiped his reading glasses away from his eyes, gripping one of the arms between his thumb and forefinger tightly. His eyes narrowed as he flicked them between the two notes that Miss Vial had left for him on his desk, a small smirk tugging at the corners of his lips. His expression seemed mischievous and calculated, but entirely strange and unreadable in such a situation.

"Why, Miss Vial... I wouldn't dream of telling _anyone."_


End file.
